Recipe: Beef Bulgogi

This is a classic Korean dish and it's so easy to make that a lazy person like me has file it under "Quick meal". Prep and cook time takes under 30mins.

Beef Bulgogi

Ingredients

-300-400gram of marbled shabu shabu beef. (I used the Australian sliced version)
- 1/2 stalk leek, sliced thinly at an angle
- 1/2 green pepper/ capsicum, sliced in long strips
- 1/2 onion, sliced lengthways
- 1 bunch of enoki
- 6 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1tsp grated ginger
- 1/4 cup soya sauce (adjust as u like according to the beef amount)
- 2tbsp sesame oil
- 2tbsp mirin
- 1tbsp fine sugar (the original recipe ask for 2tbsp but i cut it down)
+ seasame seeds, toasted for garnish at the end (optional)

Cooking steps

1. Marinate beef with sugar, soya sauce, sesame oil and mirin for about 15mins or so. Leave in fridge unless you have winter chill temp in your kitchen.
2. Add chopped garlic and grated ginger.
3. Heat frying pan with 1tbsp olive oil.
4. Stir fry capsicum, onions, enoki mushrooms with some minced garlic
5. When capsicum starts to soften (prob about after 5mins on high heat), add beef and leeks together into the vege mix. Important not to overcook your beef esp slice which only takes few mins to cook. Once it turn from red to brown, it's done.

Add marinated beef slice to the vege mix.

6. Once the beef is cooked, turn off flame and served with jasmine steamed rice.

Alternatively, you can make your own beef bulgogi sandwich by adding this to white bread.

Tip: if you are not using sliced beef, add some pureed fruit (apple/ pear), this will tenderise and add more sweetness to your meat.

Singapore Fuckwit Moment 4: Korean BBQ @ Orchard Central

After all the fuckwit moments at heartland malls, one would assume things will get better as we head on to the "heart" of the city state - Orchard Road...I need a strong heart to withstand all these people who doesnt deserve the job they are holding.

My gf drove us to Orchard Mall for a "quiet dinner" on this hard pissing down rain weekday night. We arrived about 6pm and were seated promptly by this Filippino waitress. I was looking through the menu on the BBQ meats, that had both the Korean and English description.

On the left of the big menu was all options in A, and on the right was all the options in B.

Looking at the price difference and the Korean description difference, I waved for the staff over to explain to my mild confusion.

Me: Could you explain the difference between this item A2 "Marinated Beef Ribs" vs B5 Marinated Beef Ribs? They are both beef ribs in English but in Korean, they read different.

FT Staff: Oh, on this page (pointing to the left page), these are marinated meat, You can have pork or chicken. On this page (pointinf to the right page), you can get other items and beef.

If you know me, I really have no patience for idiots that do not answer the question. However in this case, given that she is a Foreigner whose English may be wanting, I repeated myself.

Me: Yes I can read thank you very much. I am not asking you what items are on Page A. I am asking you what is the difference between this item A (finger pointing) and this item B (Finger from another hand pointing)

FT staff: Oh they are the same.

Me: I dont think they are the same because the Korean text reads differently, and the pricing is different. Can you check?

FT Staff: Oh they are the same. (not bothering to check)

Me: So if they are the same, why are they on different pages? 

Ft Staff: Ahhh..they are the same trust me. They are Marinated Beef Ribs.

At this point, I know she was a lost cause. I didnt want to ruin my eve and dinner date with my fren because of a fuckwit. How can the 2 items be the SAME?!!! They might be the same as in Marinated and as in beef rib meat. However what is the difference?!!! God almighty I wanted to slap this woman so hard when she refused to check and still give me replies not relating to my questions.

I told her to give me a min.

Not because I needed to select what I want to eat, but rather I needed that min to calm myself from this stupid moment. 

My gf looked at me.

I told her "I dont trust her. I dont trust a place who doesnt know what the fuck they are serving."

She agreed and we left for the Korean BBQ at Dempsey instead since the rain stopped.

Why?

Why is the training so poor?

Why couldnt the staff even be familiar with their menu?

Why are they shamelessly located in the middle of the city.

Why is this useless person being employed from overseas?

Why?

Why?

Why?

Why am I surrounded by FUCKWITS?!

Singapore Fuckwit Moment 3 - Nex Shopping Mall Taxi Stand.

I met my ex colleagues for CNY lunch@ Nex during my trip back. It's another place filled with Singaporeans who are fuckwits. Why does it keep happening to me? Why do these fuckwits constantly seek me out to torment me, and lower my already rock bottom opinions of my birth country?

Incident #1

I went to Cold Storage@Serangoon Nex to made my purchase so that I can get the second WMF pot for my mum after the fuckwit Cold Storage policy rejecting my $60 purchase incident.

While waiting for the cashier to put my purchases into my recyclable shopping bag, I accidentally dropped my soy bean drink and some of the drink spilled onto the floor. I quickly picked up the cup and looked for the spare large Starbuck tissue paper (left over from earlier purchase) to wipe up the small puddle. The cashier saw and called someone to get the cleaner to mop up the mess.

This is when 2 Singaporean fuckwits entered my life.

The first was the CS Chinese cashier.
I grabbed my soiled tissue after soaking up the soybean drink and wanted to throw it into the dustbin next to me (but was placed behind the cashier). The closelid bin was not exactly within stepping distance so I politely requested the cashier (who was an all time spectator all this while) to press open the bin lid with her foot so that I can drop the tissue.

The reaction was "What for?"
Oh you FUCKING FUCKWIT.
What do you think?
That I am going to hand you the dirty tissue in your hand to throw it away you fuckwit?

I replied her "To throw these" and I point to the almost dripping tissue.
The CS cashier reluctantly open her dustbin.
Why she was so begrudging was beyond me.
I just ignored her before I pop my blood vessel.

If you think that was end of story, no not really.
This Singaporean Middle age man who was Q'ing behind me gave me the DIRTY disgusted look while I was wiping up the mess.

What the fuck?
So you Mr High and Mighty Fuckwit thinks that someone else like a cleaner should be the one to clean up our mess and that I am being excessive moronic to do the right thing is wiping up the mess?
It's not like the soybean spilled anywhere near your fucking lowlife cheap nasty unpolished dull black shoes. Neither was I blocking your way or holding the Q up. So what the fuck is your problem?

The cleaner came and mopped the mess up.
All the accusing eyes as if like I have nothing better to do than go around spilling my paid drink.
What is happening to Singapore was the first thing that pop into my head.

Incident #2

After the CS incident, I rushed off to the taxi stand outside Nex.
I dont know how many taxi stand there is around Nex but the one I went was situated near the Espirit store.

This is the place that really made my blood boil with the numerous SELFISH SELF-ABSORBED, SELF- CENTERED SINGAPOREAN FUCKWITS. Oh my god! The amount of arseholes in Singapore is amazing.

You see, the taxi stand is situated right in front of the private car alighting bays. 2 bays to be exact.
The road was only a 2 way lane, and there was already a long line of taxis building up on the left most lane.

Guess what these Singaporean private car owners did that really tick me off?
Instead of being considerate and sensibility to drive their fucking private cars into the alighting bay, these arrogant drivers actually STOPPED their cars in the middle of the 2 way lane and allowed their passengers to unload in their own sweet time?!!

WHAT THE HELL?!

It wasnt just one car.
It wasnt just one Singaporean arsehole-jackarse-moron-mega fuckwit. It was MANY selfish fuckwit drivers.

In the span of 20mins I was standing there.
I counted at least 6 private cars who did that.
Mercs, BMW, Honda, Toyota, KIA, etc. Commoner cars or luxury car drivers alike, all FUCKWITS.
Some hog the middle of the 2 lane. Some literally stopped on the outer lane.

Either way, these fuckwits literally BLOCKED up the traffic behind them, meaning the taxi drivers couldnt move and we were all waiting and jammed there not because there were no cabs but rather because of Singaporean drivers who do not deserve to own a car NOR own a license to begin with.

What made the whole situation even more exasperating?
That there was actually a Malay Uncle who was hired to work at the taxi stand, with a super MEANINGLESS NON-VALUE Added job of waving at the taxis to come forward.

Uncle, Taxi drivers KNOW how to drive their cab forward when the passenger before boards the prior cab. We dont need you to wave to taxi to drive 5 inch forward. You are being useless. What is your job scope? To manage traffic near the mall, that means not turning a blind eye to errant private car owners flouting all the rules behind you. You only need to walk forward 3 steps to tell these drivers to move into the private car bays instead of just staring at them. Why do we need to pay you to stand there to watch the mess. You take a salary, then please, do some meaningful work. Otherwise, inform your boss the problems. Or get traffic police involved. Dont just stand there dear lord.

If that wasnt all, Singaporeans are all so fucking lazy.
You know how the taxi line up in one straight file? These people standing before me are for lack of a better word, idiots.

If the first person in the Q is heading for the first cab, in HK, the 2nd person in Q will naturally walk towards the 2nd cab in line. However in Singapore, the 2nd person will NOT walk. They rather just stand there and WAIT. Wait until the 2nd taxi slowly inch forward a few inches before they will open the door and board. WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH WALKING that extra 3 steps you lazy bitches?????!!

I swear my head was hurting from this "cultural" shock coming back to Singapore during my hols.
It's super unbearable to witness and be part of these fuckwit moments.

When it was my turn, I walked to the 2nd cab, only to discover that Singapore cabs do not have auto door open unlike in HK. In HK, when both my hands are caught up with grocery bags, the driver would always open the door and the guy who help man the taxi Q will walk forward to hold the door open till I settled into the cab. THAT's HK. However, not happening here in Singapore. They want to copy HK but copying NOTHING right.

I asked the driver, do Singapore cabs not have auto swing open door?
The answer he gave me was no.
The answers my friends gave me was some have it but NO ONE ever uses it.
So WTF?!!!!!!!!

Singapore is bragging about top port or shit airport etc, but they cannot even get the basic day to day events right. So what is the fucking point? Where is the focus? Singaporeans travel so much to overseas and experience so much service and yet they cannot fathom the fundamental service they need to provide? How dismal and absolutely horrifying.

I dont need my country to be focus only on GDP or firefighting the backlash or picking on the govt from A-Z. I need the people to wake up and take a good hard look at themselves and things happening around them. Stop blaming the govt for everything. Everything I had experienced, those fuckwit moments are created by Singaporeans themselves, not the govt. We need to grow up else we will just be acting like a bunch of good for nothing teens who just want to rebel and complain.

Singapore Fuckwit Moment 2 - Cold Storage

Is Singapore getting filled with dumbwits to do the jobs? My recent experience tells me that the service industry is seriously waiting for a major overhaul in its human resources. People, you need to start hiring people with BRAINS. Stop employing fuckwits and piss your customers off.

This recent incident really had my jaws hanging wide open.

For those who frequent Cold Storage in Singapore, you might rem the promotion of WMF pots at discounted price with minimal $30 purchase in a single receipt back in early this year Feb 2013.

I had wanted 2 pots. One for me, and one for mum. In any developed service oriented country, you would expect this to be a no brainer right? WRONG. I guess in Singapore supermarket, the promotion department likes to make you go through the painful time consuming way.

I did my shopping at the Cold storage located in the mall next to Expo MRT station.

At the cashier, I did my purchase and my bill came up to $60 exact. There was NO instructions as to where to do the purchase, or how to do the discounted pot purchase. That was fine thinking the cashier would know since she WORKS there right? Well, turns out she is even more clueless than me because she didnt know what the fuck I was talking about. I had to tell her that the pots were on display at the main entrance. Then she told me to go to the people in the MEAT section to get help.

I may not of rocketing IQ, but I am not as dumb to believe that the guy selling me butchered meat will know anything about the pots promotion if this cashier knows nothing. So obviously I knew she was clueless.

Not wanting to hold up the couple behind me, I had to carry all my heavy purchases with me and headed back to the main entrance to grab the pots, hoping to find some floor manager. Nope. NO ONE was there. No staff, no manager.

So I grabbed the pot and headed back to the cashier. Unfortunately, it was either that Indian cashier I had earlier or the Chinese trainee at the other checkout.

The Indian cashier asked me if I wanted the 2 pots. I asked her, well I have $60 purchase in a single receipt, so I can get 2 pots right?

To my surprise, the answer was a NO.
I can only buy one pot with one receipt.

WHAT THE FUCK?

I thought you know, with the crappy Singlish and all, I may have misunderstood her and I didnt want to jump to conclusions about how moronic it would be if I heard her correctly the first time. So I clarified and asked again

Me:  "Did you just say I cannot buy 2 pots, even though I met the minimal $30 purchase and now I have $60 purchase in a single receipt."

CS cashier: Yes. You can only buy ONE POT with ONE RECEIPT.

Me: Are you positively sure. Can you check with someone because nothing on that promotion sign board mentioned that it is $30 or nothing. It merely states I need to fulfil the $30 criteria.

The CS Indian cashier turned to her chinese colleague and asked if she knew. The CS Chinese cashier just shrugged and replied dunno. Call Ms xxx.

The CS cashier called her manager or whichever fuckwit holed up inside some snug office and sure enough, I could hear the loud woman over the phone telling the cashier "THE COMPANY POLICY says only $30 per receipt for each pot."

So I asked her, then why dont you void the transaction and split the whole receipt into two receipts then since it is your company requirement, which by the way is not advertised or indicated ANYWHERE before I made my purchase.

The Indian CS Cashier gave me a blank look.
Then she replied "Sorry I cannot."
There is no such company policy.

Honestly, at this point, I gave up.
It's too mentally exhausting to fight against stupidity and fuckwits.
It's just a pot.
I can make another purchase another day to meet the $30 requirement.
At this point, my brain hurts from having to deal with this whole lot of fucking SG morons.

I dont know if it's company policy, or there are alot of hired help with BAD ENGLISH and they cannot comprehend the minimal $30 purchase requirement. By the way at this point, I need to emphasize that every staff including Ms xxx Useless Loudspeaker over the phone there was SINGAPOREAN with a LOCAL ACCENT. Not Foreign hires.

In HK, this will never happen.
I have redeemed plenty of quality pots, knives etc and NOT once, I have to deal with such crap.
In HK, the supermarket staff are always on the ball, knowledgeable, and even if they dont know, they will call someone and clarify till they are satisfied and get back to the customer. Not like in SG, where these people have no idea how to serve or any passion about their job. Please, hire someone with brains...what happen to common sense in the service industry?

Fuckwits...loads of fuckwits...
Sg is driving me nuts with all the excess surplus of fuckwits.

K-pop: I want to Kiss you-Jung Yeop

My fav Korean track for the month.

Singapore Fuckwit moment 1

On a happier note.
Went to the new Singapore Marine Life S.E.A aquarium @ Sentosa. Touted the biggest aquarium in the world. Arrr....honestly...it might covered the largest ground area but I dont think it is the largest aquarium in my memory. In Japan Osaka, there was a whale shark in the tank, and in Vancouver they have the Beluga whale. How is it possible we have the largest? You mean we have the most combination of fish variety or that we showcase the most species from various continents? Perhaps. However "LARGEST" by definition here is lost on me because it doesnt feel large. In fact, I thought the tank in itself feels small than some others I have seen.

On a not so cheery note is that in this trip back, I discovered a lot of fuckwit singaporeans at work.
Take for example the Aquarium staff

My friends and I book the ticket at vivo city not being told that we have to change the ticket reaching the aquarium entrance. We were told to head to the customer service booth. There was a travel agent before us and there was some dispute between her and the staff, where the agent loudly claimed that there were missing tickets of over 40tickets out of the 200 plus.

She was counting sooooo slowly that the cows would have come home and head out to the farm again the next day. So i politely asked the Indian staff if she could just kindly exchange our voucher for tickets and let us go on since she was DOING NOTHING and just standing there, GLARING at the agent lady. The staff snapped at us and said to wait because the computer before her is in use. Fine. We waited though I dont get what has exchanging vouchers for tickets got to do with data entry on computer. I wasnt buying a ticket.

We waited and the agent was still counting at number 20+ and there were stacks in front of her. I wished I bought the tickets at the ticket booth next to us instead because that was way FASTER. Another chinese staff popped over to see what the Indian staff was busy with. My friend knocked on the window panel and asked the chinese staff if she could just helped us, and the building Q behind us. This would never happen in HK. NEVER. Period.

Again the chinese staff said the computer was in use. I asked her "There's TWO computers here. Can't you use the other one?" She replied the computer is not in operation (whatever that means with that sentence that is wrong at all counts) I asked her "Isnt that INEFFICIENT?" Guess her reply. "YAH." She replied yah!! @!!!!!!! @$#$%$^%  WTF?

Another 5 mins went passed and steam was rising out of my head. The chinese staff then knocked on the window panel and told us to give her our voucher tickets. I watched her take our tickets, walk over to the ticket sales side, grab 2 new tickets and gave it to us.

So WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?
First you told us to wait because you needed the computer, and then now voila! You simply exchange the tickets without having to do anything via the computer. SO what the hell was I waiting in the first place again????

To me, this was seriously a SG FUCKWIT moment...

Feb 2013: Hair updates @ Ar Salon (Causeway Bay)

It's gonna be Chinese New Year in couple of days and it's time to get my unruly hair snipped again, esp the dry ends. I havent done anything much to my hair except for trimming since I permed it in May 2012.

Today it's time to dye my hair again to cover those nasty white hair bits sticking up at the forefront. It's annoying coz they refuse to stay down and hide quietly amongst the rest!

Ito san recommended a slightly lighter brown than my usual dark brown. Fine by me:) He didnt go for the super light brown (the japanese style) because he knows I will freak out if it's too light, plus he knows I am very lazy to maintain so the dark roots will look pretty "distinctive" since I wont keep going back to dye my hair.  I only head to the salon like every 4 months or more. So Beedy did the coloring for me while Ito did the cut.

Initially I thought I should straighten or re-perm but Ito san said I didnt have to do anything since my curls are still in place. So he will just layer my "bushy" mop to thin down the volume at the back & do treatment. Sounds like a plan. He suggested for me to keep my fringe long so I didnt have short bangs this time.

So here's the photo updates for today!

(Dated: 5th Feb 2013. Last permed: 9th May 2012)

(Dated: 5th Feb 2013. Half Clipped hair version after dinner)

"Yellow! Yellow!"

My Ozzie Hubby like to have some fun at my expense at time, mimicking my Singapore speech phrases.

Came the other day, he kept saying something which I didnt know what he was trying to say, except that it comes across sounding like "Yellow! Yellow!" with his Ozzie accent.

It wasnt much later, like days later, that I discovered he was trying to copy me in saying
"Yeah Lor! Yeah Lor!"

OMG! I had such a good laugh!

The thing about some girls...

Had lunch with one of my HK friend today and we talked about some recent encounters we had with people around us, primarily their relationship problems that they like to drench us in.

The one thing my friend and I had in common is that, we dont agree with the often heard statements on "How lucky you are to meet a good husband.."

Luck may play 1% role in our relationship but excuse me, a good marital relationship isnt dominated by luck. 99% of it is about management of relationship, management of expectations, compromise and adjustments, shared values, efforts to go extra mile for the other party and lastly, do everything with a dash of optimism and forgetfulness.

"Forgetful" is useful in the aspect of fights and unhappy incidents where one dont dredged up old ancient history or fights , while Optimism is essential in every forward looking relationship where both welcomes each brand new day looking forward to good things in your life. Without all those ingredients and constant hard work, all relationships will be doom to fail eventually regardless what kind of man or woman one meets or get involved with. Relationship is also about communication and knowing what to expect when you get involved with someone, and asking yourself if the tradeoff or shortfall from your expectation is something you can live with. In the same brush, u have to rem that you aint that perfect and the other person reserve the right to evaluate you too.

You enter a relationship with BOTH eyes open, and you dont go in EXPECTING the other person to change for you. It doesnt happen that way, not unless that person is a spineless wimp and u are a domineering person. But even so in this case, both enter the relationship with one willing & expected to be dominated while the other calling the shots. However once u are committed, you close one eye. That's where adjustment of expectations and compromise comes in. Yet, I have heard many girls who complained about not getting their way or their other half dont do what they want. Hello? He is his own entity too, not your slave boy. If he has always exhibited those traits and habits, then dont complain about it when you commit yourself to him. It was your choice. Dont act like a spoilt princess about this and that.

Also, another rule that I hold close to my heart, dont air your dirty laundry esp in public forum. It's one thing to vent frustrations and problems with close frens over a meal and completely another to update your status with EMO messages. That is immature and childish and nonconstructive, if not destructive in long run. Dont ask for sympathetic votes because you are not that perfect and friends who go fawn over u or outpouring of "support" is doing your relationship more harm than good. What makes you think you are soooo perfect in the first place? Every couple has its ups and downs and couple tiffs, what makes you think your problem is such a big deal? Have you even done any self reflections before you start to bemoan about how "pathetic" your life is?

You might think you are soooo right, but not everyone will agree with your viewpoints. Writing it down not only damages your partner's image, it should gives an insight of how immature the author is. Over time, people will form their own perception about you and your partner. Seriously, is it necessary to broadcast to the whole world "if you are bored, upset or those cryptic I am so tired" messages? Even worse, some have daily blow by blow updates about their relationship status. It's mind boggling that some people find enjoyment in such activity.

To me, frankly, social platform is NOT a place to air your grievances about your relationship. Unlike a personal diary where u can bare your heart, social platform is at best for you to highlight happy or funny incidents, or daily mundane events or if pissed, its at people not closely related to you. If you truly cherish and treasure the relationship with that person, you should learn to hold your tongue or in this case, your fingers from writing something that is so widely read, for both of your sakes in the long run. Words once spoken cannot be taken back, just like words written cannot be erased once its out there. Be prepared to bear the consequences.

In the last 20 years, from stories and personal experience, I have come to discover there are TRULY alot of immature Chinese/Asian women out there who seemed to think that Mr Right comes in a cast and concrete package deal. That means, they dont have to do anything but expect the other half to dote on them and treat them like Queen. Much of these wrong thinking to do with the impractical and unrealistic idol Chinese dramas and ridiculous romance books that these silly girls grow up with, with some even spoilt with wrong encouragements from their parents that "My daughter is a princess and u must treat her like one."

Apart from those with relationship problems, I too find it annoying personally with girls who are only concerned about how they look, act helpless.

Just the other day, was watching this cooking program on TV with my Hubby. It was about making some korean noodle dish. This Korean girl who is also part program host was interviewing her Korean mum on how to make her fav noodle dish. Her mum was trying to teach her on TV how to slice the beef and carrots etc. The stupid Korean girl acted squeamish and so fucking useless like the beef was gonna bite her and she kept giggling senselessly, saying oh how difficult it is to make the dish. It's a slab of cook meat for heaven sake!!!! Her mum prob had enough of her bimbo laughs and took over the cutting instead. For some reason, she annoyed me and my husband tremendously. We had to change channel as we couldnt bear continuing with her silliness and incompetence.

It's one thing to not know how to do something and try, but I draw a line at someone trying to play the damsel in distress role over something so simple. It pissed me off. What era are we in? Didnt woman scream for equality treatment? If so, then please spare us the "acting so stupid and behave like all you are good at is slapping layers of makeup on your face with fake eyelashes and flashing polished nails" act. Looks fade girl, its what is left behind that is important and follows you for the rest of your life. So do yourself a favor, build yourself some spine and a good strong character that leaves a lasting impression. Cut the flimsy act if you crave for other people to take u seriously.

Dinner review: Carnevino, Central HK

Had dinner at Carnevino Italian Steakhouse@ Central on Sat nite. It was good!

I am generally not a big steak eater and so as expected, I struggled with my 10oz steak and couldnt finish it. Primarily, that;s also because I had a large serving of Calamari starter.

To begin with the starter...it was KICK ARSE good! I havent had good calamari for a long while now in HK and this is the first time that a spicy tomato based calamari had me lapping for more! Squid was cooked nicely and the heat flavor was awesome! They didnt go easy on the spiciness and OMG! Soooo good!

My partner had the pork belly starter and it was also super moist and tenderly good. It took us 2 bites to finish the meat so its def a smaller portion than the calamari.

Then I had my moscato wine. IT WAS SO GOOD! I know..moscato is moscato. Sweet wine. But this one is fantastic. More bubbly and a very refreshing sweetness that doesnt linger and go stale at the back of your throat. I gulp down so many glasses that I might have been better off getting the whole bottle frankly....

Side info: (The La Spinetta Moscato d’Asti Biancospino is pale yellow with a constant stream of small bubbles topping up the delicate mousse. The nose is fresh and overflowing with aromas of lemon, mandarins and honeysuckle. The palate is sweet but with a remarkable acidity, making it refreshing and not cloying. The finish is long and leaves you with lovely floral notes, and hints of white peach.)

We ordered 2 extra sides, cream spinach and shitake mushrooms. Frankly I think we over ordered for 2 pigeon like Asian eaters. The mushroom was a tad too sweet for me and spinach is spinach goes...what do u expect?

The meat was good quality though i couldnt really tell the difference between my requested medium and medium rare....they look equally reddish on the inside right in the middle segment...so....

Dessert is amazing! I truly love their lemon semi freddo! It was so refreshingly good! The last time I had such a good semi freddo was at Quay, Sydney. So yeah, u HAVE to try this esp if u are already pretty full and sick from all the meat and want a lighter dessert.

Service was good except the only thing that marred the ending was the silly waiter poured tap water into my glass of still water, completely ruiningthe taste and rendered my glass of water undrinkable because I HATE the funny taste emitting from the mix. They should have at least confirmed with me if I wanted tap added but before I could stop them (since I was busy chatting with my companion), damage was done. Sigh.

All in all, a good place to try and have yourself a good time

Recipe: Shrimp Dumpling Soup

Deleted some old post to make space for this since I still havent gotten round to setting up a new blog in continuation of this.

Had a go at making shrimp dumpling for the first time tonight. The wrapping of 60 dumplings took me about an hour to finish. Good thing for home video to entertain me while my hands were hard at work:)

For the soup based, instead of chicken stock, I went with pork bones and with carrots instead. Turned out relatively well in my humble opinion...except I got to rem to add black fungus and add more pepper next time round. Recipe will be up next few days when I get round to it ;p

Dumpling Ingredients

1. 100g minced pork

2. 250g of prawns

3. 4 stalk spring onion

4. diced 4 water chestnuts

5. 3 cloves minced garlic

6. Sesame oil, pepper, salt

7. 3 Tbsp light soy sauce 

8. dash of ginger juice

9. (Black fungus/ bamboo shoots) optional

10. dumpling wraps

Soup

1. Pork bones and meat

2. 1-2 carrots

3. 2-3 whole water chestnuts

4. 4 stalk Spring onion (bottom white half) - upper green half for garnishing

5. coriander garnishing

Max out on photo quota!

I just realised that I had max out on my 1G photo quota for this blog!

Wondering what I should do now?

Start a new blog?
Delete old post?
Give up blogging?

Damn! This is annoying

Food Review: Gunther@ Purvis Street, Singapore

Singapore is one those cities that appears to have many good dining spots but unfortunately in reality, I am often met with disappointing service, meal and/or value. In this rare occasion, I found a rare gem (by Singapore's standard) in Gunther's. 

It was my man's birthday and our wedding anniversary and I chanced upon reviews on Gunther's. The menu looked great, the reviews though mixed was veered towards positive. The positive experience starts with our email correspondence since I am residing overseas. The staff Yuliz was polite, prompt and projected a keen sense of hospitality service with care to details and apt questions for the night arrangements. I had enquired about flowers to be left at the restaurant and was told it could be dropped off anytime as there will always be someone around. I was not disappointed on the actual day itself. 

Starting with service.

It was rainy night and there were staff awaiting in the rain with brollies to meet their guest alighting from the cabs. Brownie points for that. After being warmly greeted, we were promptly seated in as quiet corner as possible as per requested. The flowers were swiftly brought out as per arranged and that was a nice "opening" to the night.

The dinner specials of the night was introduced to us once we were nicely settled down. Jit (I hope I gotten the name right) was warm and friendly, and patiently went through the list with us. He was non-pushy, affable and knows the menu list, the food prep and description of the dish was thorough. Before leaving us to think through our main and starter "choice", he left us with the option of possibly a choice of letting him suggest our dinner options should we be overly spoilt for choice. Everything sounded yummy!

In the end, knowing our goal was seafood and my husband was keen on the fresh lobster, he suggested the signature cold angel hair pasta with cavier, a shared pen shell starter for two, and a shared lobster thermidor. Whilst I was also gunning for the freshly oven baked meat, Jit was wise to tell me to hold that order, finish my lobster and see how I feel like later. He was right, I was truly too full to proceed on after my lobster main.

Food review

I am usually not a big fan on cold starters but the Cold angel hair pasta with Oscietra caviar was delightfully light and refreshing. On hindsight, I should have ordered one plate to share so that I could get another starter since the pasta was a good size portion. However we liked it so it's ok. The pasta had good consistency and texture and the flavor was definitely did not overwhelm, leaving our tastebuds nicely ready to sample the next dish.

The penshell with seafood consomme was another delight though I must admit the prawns in the consomme had a richer sweet flavor as compared to the actual shell meat. Everything was cooked right but some may expect a lighter broth version than what we had. However, the taste was just right for me and again, good portion size.

Our main was lobster thermidor and we had half each. I didnt think I would be full but I was wrong. By the time I was through, we were both very satisfied and this is the first time that I didnt want any more dessert. The lobster was fresh and succulent, nicely cooked such that it wasnt chewy yet retaining the full seafood flavor as any good chef worth their salt should with this dish. The pairing with the porcini mushroom was an excellent touch as it definitely enhanced the overall flavor for the dish and accentuate the lobster's flavor up a notch. The accompanying rice seemed to have a touch of lemongrass or something herby at least, and my partner loves it. 

By dessert time, I was struggling to decide. I didnt need more food but I had to since I was expecting the "Happy Birthday" candle moment. Between the apple tart, suze crepe and choc fondant, I was lost. My man wanted the crepe and I was trying to figure out how does one stick a candle on a crepe and so I forced myself to tell Jit to throw in the Choc fondant.

However what came next was a complete surprise. We were presented with a nice complimentary frozen fruit ice-cream like cake with a candle to boot! When all the birthday wishes and camera shots were done, Jit came to us and told us ever so kindly that he had actually not logged in our dessert order as he knew we are almost full. but he didnt want to ruin the surprise and so he still pretended to take our dessert order. I was grateful for his initiatives and consideration and gladly cancelled our dessert order since the complimentary cake was not only enough, but it was actually the type of cold dessert we were craving for:)

When we left, everything was in order. We were warmly given the birthday and happy anniversary greeting once more to round up the lovely night. One of the staff even chased after us just as we were boarding a cab, as my very contented satisfied birthday man had forgotten his birthday card left on the table.

Overall, we couldnt be more satisfied with the service and food. The bill came up to about SG$400, inclusive of a glass of dessert wine. To us, it was good value enough. Definitely infinitely better than the mediocre Ku De Ta meal we had earlier at MBS for the same price, even surpassing our experience at some of the Michelin places in Hong Kong.

Simple Honest Good Food. The chef has lived up to his vision and provided a food fare worthy of praise. This is one restaurant I would definitely look forward to returning to.

Tip:
-Might be wise to come earlier so that you get the best pick of the specials since it's limited item.
- If you have special dietary requirements or allergies, best to remind server or inform during reservation as I recalled they did not reconfirm on any allergies precaution necessary to note during orders.

Small Handful of Singapore Bus Drivers going on strike

The news that caught my attention was Singapore SMRT PRC bus drivers going on strikes over wanting better pay. They boycott work and demand for better pay, citing comparison with drivers from Malaysia and Indonesia. (Source: Channelnewsasia: SMRT wage protest sees no-show by 62 drivers)



I support the idea of fair treatment to employees and I do respect these drivers hard work. However that does not translate into support for these foreign residents' idea of holding any company ransom via boycott of work. It is not the case that they are employed without a formal contract. It is NOT that these drivers did not know how much they are paid and the working hours before they took on the job. They should also know the company reserve the right to give increments as they deemed fit. If these drivers did indeed not know, then they only have themselves to blame for not doing due diligence.

I have no love for unreasonable behavior nor people as such. Succumbing to their requests and behavior will only serve to open a floodgate of problems in future. Everyone can just go on protest and strikes everytime they decided that they dont like the pay they are getting for themselves, or their peers get better pay increment than them. It's unbecoming to adopt and condone such tyrant attitude to hold employers by their balls over personal gains as such. I do not have all the details and perhaps they do have valid grievances but is this the best way going forward?

Unless SMRT has changed the drivers terms and conditions unilaterally, I see no grounds to acceding to their protest. If these drivers are so unhappy, then by all means, have the guts and resign and search for better paying jobs with whatever skillsets they have and can boast of. The exit door is there, 24hrs/7days. They just need to walk through it, Dont be a coward and cling on to the seat and act like an adult cry baby. However if the company has indeed been inapproperiate and unfair in its dealing, it should admit its internal oversight and system flaw. If the changes are in accordance to skillsets, eg Malaysian/ SG drivers can speak more languages than China drivers thus the pay difference, then even such should be made clear with followup actions. One cannot employ an employee not meeting all the checklist and then turn around to deal them an unfair card either.

Previously, the saga of local bus drivers protests had merits. That was when the company went ahead to change the working hours resulting in worse off pay package and longer working hours. That I can completely understand the angle the employees were coming from. However, I believe that went through proper channel of communication.

No. This is not about nationality card. It shouldnt be either. The person who is driving the bus is a fellow HUMAN. It doesnt matter where he came from or the accent.

Regardless of origins, every employee should indeed not be shortchanged unfairly.
However, there is a distinct difference between an employer acting in bad faith versus drivers wanting a bigger share of wages.

I asked my friends if they rem what Heathrow Airport and British Airways are renowned for?
Strikes.
We have seen what happened to Foxconn in China.
Strikes.

Strikes is a vicious and deterimental viral behavior, regardless the reasons.
Is that what I want Singapore to be known for in future as well?
No. Not really.
It will not bore well.

So I hope SMRT does what it should do bounded within the legal confines.
Letting them go freely with no further repercussion or let them stay on with trust that the company will review the benefits ACROSS the board for ALL DRIVERS at the same time at the yearly, biannual or quarterly review. However, please do not condone such behavior and give in quietly without proper accountability to the public.

We are better society than that.

Food Review: Rubato@ 3 Clover Way, Singapore.

I should have blogged this earlier but being sick right after being back from hols and catching up school work for my Jap test took up most of my time and energy.

Now that I am nicely settled back in again, before my next trip back to Singapore this Friday, I thought I should get my lazy arse moving and update my food review before I forgot!

This time back in Singapore, I headed out to Clover Way (Near Bishan/ Marymount Mrt) In late October to try out this eatery known as Rubato, serving Western Italian food.

Unassuming Exterior of Rubato

It was a "last minute" Sunday trip as my earlier email reservation 3 weeks before did not get a response until Saturday itself. I was kindly informed by Marcus that their email system had been down but they had booked us in for 4 anyway as per requested. That was nice, except that it was a desperate scramble to reconfirm if my original dining company was still free that Sunday on such short notice! Thankfully, they were! Phew!

Reaching there by car was easy but its not exactly a stone's throw away from public transport. Unless you know the private residential area well, walking there might be a real challenge esp from Bishan Mrt. I cheated and took a cab from town.

The setting is a small place. Sunday is their weekly buffet day too though we went ala carte since I wanted to try what exactly is their signature and recommended dishes.

Food thoughts.

1. The clams were good. Very sweet and succulent. (Pix in iphone. have to upload later). Definitely on my must order for shellfish lovers.

2. Their Signature grilled squid was nicely served moist, and cooked perfectly without becoming rubbery nor chewy. It was certainly a freaking huge squid by the way but shared between four adults, each still got a good tasting portion which works out great!

Signature Charcoal Grilled Squid.

 3. Honestly, I cannot rem the name of this as it was one of the seafood specials on the chalkboard that was heartily recommended to us. It was nice, but frankly, it wasnt their best work though I still love the clams.

4. The fresh pear salad. I definitely take issue with this. It was bland and the pear was not sweet. Ok, they are not in charge of a pear farm but if the fruit aint great, dont put it in and swap it to something else like red apple.

There was supposed, and I emphasized "suppose"to be balsamic vinegar in it but i tasted none. I'm not sure if it was because it took so long to deliver a simple salad that I had to enquire about it and Marcus took it out in a flash and someone in the kitchen forgotten the last dash. I did point it out to Marcus it was tasteless and he immediately whip out a separate dish of balsamic of vinegar, while explaining that they had gone "lightly seasoned". I didnt want to argue and have him taste the "TASTELESS" salad which did not had any hint or tinge of sourish vinegar. Only reason, service has been really fantastic to date and I was willing to overlook a simple oversight.

Seasoning aside, the salad was fresh and a good portion. Would suggest to go with a dash of mustard honey if I am the chef to give it a hint of sweetness in event the fruits are terrible.

Balsamic Fresh Pear Salad.

 5. Seafood rivioli.

I cannot comment since I didnt taste this but the company I had told me it was good. Reason why I didnt taste it was because I was getting rapidly filled up and the sauces across various dishes recommended to us were getting abit too similar for my liking.

Seafood Rivioli

 6. The pork belly....has got to be the only disappointing and terrible dish I had here today. The pork was chewy and definitely did not go well with the sauce. Sorry... crispy pork and that tomato sauce just dont go hand in hand....it didnt enhance the flavour or the natural sweetness that should come with fresh pork. Instead the accompanying sauce overwhelm my palatte and the tough chewy texture was pretty off putting. Sorry, gotto fail this dish and hope they take it off the menu or at least relearn to cook pork belly right. It should be soft and tender like braised meat with crispy skin that any chef worth their salt should accomplish easily, but not here. Avoid at all cost. Your $5 roasted chai siew pork belly from hawker is cooked way better than this. And living in HK where pork belly dishes are soooooo perfected as a staple dish, sorry, this pork belly is almost a cousin that should not be mentioned.

7. Ah...what meal is complete without the dessert. My good old choc fondant with ice cream, ordered with a cup of chamomile tea.

The cake was cooked perfectly. No faults there, yet equally no surprises there. I meant seriously, its decent but not wow woah spectacular. If you like normal, COMMON, comfort food type dessert, this is a fail proof order but its not mind boggling if you know what I mean. I am not expecting unsual creativity but at best, this is what any decent homemaker can make. Australia Sydney dining spots definitely serve way better desserts than this and I had more unique dessert downunder in smaller and more unassuming dining spots..

The next downside is the size of the tea. Seriously, for the amount that I pay, I expected a pot, or at least a bigger mug of tea. That cup worth only 3 gulp was frankly a little bordering on rip off. Dont serve in such a small cup. You can get bigger cup for that tea bag. Also, this place needs more variety in drinks such as offering fresh juice. Let's go healthy.

Now that we have gotten food review out of the way, let's talk about service.

Service here at Rubato is impecable in comparison to  general (APPALLING) Singapore hospitality service standard I am accustomed to. Marcus was friendly without being intrusive, food was served fast to a point we had to request the kitchen to slow down as we are still ploughing through 3 courses between the 4 of us.

However, the only small note was that the senior lady who was serving was so eager to recommend their signature dishes that I think she kind of overlooked that we over ordered. I really think that her knowing the size and portions should have controlled the items recommended as any good restaurants would. I am not at a Da Pai Tong or Steamboat buffet. So I felt we really over ordered and that did dampened the excitement by the end of it. However in the spirit that she had really wanted us to try the best, I could understand why she didnt rein us in. Secondly, seeing that many items we ordered had such similar sauces, she could have altered the order to a better mix. Like pizza or something. Then again, I guess this is when experience as a serving staff comes in.

While we were there, 3 other guests had their birthdays and all the staff sang birthday song. I did too with my added surround sound of sing along and clapping. Well, that's me. Of course unlike in Australia, where most birthday people will thank the crowd for joining in the birthday cheer, typical Singaporeans will just smile and ignore every other stranger seated around them. "Great" friendly attitude my fellow Singaporeans. Must be all those years of brain washing of "Never talk to Strangers" in case u get mugged or kidnapped taking a toll on the mental well being of these lot. You wonder why people are saying Singaporeans are a smile-less un-interactive lot.

Overall, I really dig this place and would come more regularly if only is was more accessible. However, I would recommend this place for sure for some of the great food highlights. Go check it out if you havent. You wont stay hungry for long in this dining spot. Just watch the waistline:)