Day 4: Crispy Tau Pok

Uncle, Mee Siam mai hiam, ai tau pok...

Today I went back to my old friendly Bukit Timah district after one of its tiny food stalls made it into the newspapers again. Located @ Coronation Plaza, you must definitely have eaten their Japanese food if you are those who once donned brown, grey or white uniforms and enjoy the student-rate food here under comfortable air-conditioned environment. My Cosy Corner is one of the main anchors here, although it is much smaller in size & students are always seen sitting on the floor at the nearby empty corner eating. I tried their Japanese food a few times & liked the Rice w/ topping (Donburi) best. However the price would be more expensive than a signature plate of lemon chicken rice available upstairs.

They are actually famous for their Nonya recipes also. I've always heard their Popiah is good but at $2 per piece, I didn't try it. After receiving confirmation from Lifestyle food guide, I decided it's a go.

So it was a sunny afternoon & I was awfully late, thus the booming black clouds that await me. Students were already streaming in from the nearby schools. We managed to get a seat while the shop was buzzing with afternoon crowd. Many elderly & "tai-tai" came over to takeaway.

Yummy Popiah.

So our main star for the day arrived 1st. The auntie just "threw" the plate over because we were sitting on the inside & there was a student couple sitting outside. She was really busy. Anyways, we took a bite & hey, it tasted good. It was also then when I realised what the Lifestyle food guide meant when she said "The difference between each Popiah was so great we could rank them in order of merit." My Cosy Corner is placed No. 3, below Qi Ji; & I've tasted Qi Ji before. I can't imagine what No. 4 & below would taste like.

The Popiah is nice, the radish do not have a washed out taste (like if they are soaked in water too long or overcooked & soggy), and the skin is indeed soft but tasty. I like the crispy rice bits too. However, there isn't anything "heavenly" or special about this offering. I may be asking for too much, but to have out-tasted others & ruled the charts (in Top 3), I would have expected a taste more enlightening.

If we put the "high hope = disappointment" issue aside, & I will recommend this Popiah, but without the Chilli please. The Chilli is strong & overpowering, and nothing can be worse than a spoonful of Chilli not spread out but clumped at one end of the Popiah. I was the fateful one to have that piece of the Popiah, & as I chewed my first bite, the fiery taste immediately overwhelmed my jaw mechanisms & sent a shockwave to my brain. O_O

Tasty Mee Siam.

I ordered the Mee Siam, & it looked pretty much standard. I spotted my new-found enemy at the top of the plate... that lump of seductive deep red Chilli sauce. Argh! I quickly scooped it off to one side. & so I took my 1st bite... & got another surprise. A pleasant one, this time. The Tau Pok bits are very crispy! I think they are fried until dried, as they remain crispy even when soaked in the Mee Siam sauce. Very nice! This is definitely recommended.

Yummy Laksa.

Their Laksa tastes milder, although you can still see lots of Chilli oil floating on top. It tastes unique & doesn't focus on spiciness to bring out its flavour. I would recommend it to those who do not prefer the normal hot & spicy offering, as this one doesn't taste bland either.

The dishes come with student pricing (except the Popiah), so remember to specify on the order list.

After a filling lunch, we took a short walk down the street to the row of shophouses beside Serene Centre. Too long have I missed my favourite ice-cream of all time...

Awfully Good!

No prizes for guessing. They boast the best service for over-the-counter style food shops. Walk into their artistically contrasted shop of white walls with black decorations, & there are sofa seats around a table, with a full jug of water, glasses & serviettes on it. A small opening to the kitchen behind hides in the wall behind their counter, which is flushed against a corner of the whole shop. Spatially, they have given most of the shop space to customers, which is empty except for the table & seats, & occasional festive decorations like a Christmas Tree. The 1st time inside presents some phobia, but it is immediately dissolved by the warm cheerful greeting of the counter staff. It may be just my luck, but both outlets that I have visited have beautiful girls behind the counter. Their cake business is definitely busy with all the phone calls & discussions going on. So we went in & ordered a double scoop of their chocolate ice-cream. I wish I can buy a whole tub home. One scoop sells for $3, but two scoops go for $5. That is cheaper than Swensen's, & what more, Haagen Dazs. This chocolate is heavenly, I need not say more than: come & taste it for yourself. But only for Chocolate connoisseurs who love the deep aftertaste of cocoa bitter. Eat it bite by bite, slowly savour & you will taste it; although they gave a nice sturdy big green spoon (it's for easier scooping, their ice-cream are kept intact at nice cold temperatures). After which, admire the little artwork of the "Chinese food takeaway box" before disposing of it, with much heartpain.

Day 3: Catch Your Dreams

Try remembering your dreams... but sometimes it wouldn't be necessary if it was so real you felt like u had lived through it. Some dreams are surreal, and you feel restricted & bound by dimensions, yet you couldn't break out of the subconscious realm & assume reality. This always happens in a nightmare, when you need to run, to hit, to do an action, but felt that you are fiercely limited physically. Like no matter how fast you run, you could only crawl. This is a stark contrast against your will & imagination, which says you can leap staircases & run miles. If dreams are what we think, why are we limited when our imagination is boundless? The disability is a painful experience that makes you wake up in a jolt and wander about it for the rest of your day.

But I didn't had such dreams today, thankfully. I slept a total of 15 hours today, & I dreamt of myself revisiting my camp, and some other weird cryptic shorts. I slept through morning amidst the cool damp breeze. I thought it must have been drizzling or something of a wet weather outside. Then afternoon came & it was hot, so I woke up fuzzily.

I went back to school at about 8:30 at night, to zap & return my overdue book. There were people streaming back home along the corridor & I wondered if a class has just been dismissed. The library was brightly-lit & welcoming me; there were people inside studying. The librarians were still hard at work. There was a positive & peaceful atmosphere, not the deserted & quiet one that I had expected of school during a mid-term break. I read another book for a while before setting off. There were still people jogging on the tracks as I waited for my bus at the Bus Stop. I loved my school for how in its tranquil, large environment, people just go about doing the things they like, & how these little buzz build up the community.

Day 2: Chinatown MAF (Part III)

U didn't think there will be a Part III? Neither did I.

It was about time to go home & I was snapping the last photos of Chang Er waving:

Nice bright decorations. Distracting?

So I was happily posing my camera by the road barricades that were left by the side of the road. Traffic at the junction was mostly empty as the cars had cleared on green light. I was reviewing the shots taken on my camera, engrossed in checking the details...

and suddenly there was a loud noise. There was hardly any screeching sound, and immediately a loud crunching of metal and glass, with the deep bang of collision rang through the night.

The next few seconds were a blur; I roughly remembered I looked up & saw two cars, limped and slowly sliding across the junction. The silver car slid to a stop at the pedestrian landing, while the dark blue car came to a halt near the middle of the junction after a half-turn.

The dark blue car's siren was blaring loudly, and there wasn't a sign of movement from within any of them. I was in a daze. My curiosity was irritatingly prompting me to take photos, but my conscience wasn't feeling right. I waited to see if the passengers were okay.

The dark blue car started emitting smoke from its engine, while the front door of the silver car opened. Two men came out of the car. Later on, the father emerged from the driver's seat of the dark blue car, and opened the doors for his wife & two children. All looked unhurt. The silver car's driver then went back into his car & took out a long torchlight, which he later used to survey the damage in his car compartment. The dark blue car had ran its battery flat, and is also no longer smoking. But stranded between the junction, it was posing a threat to other motorists. As other cars drive past the scene, their tyres crunched on the debris fallen on the road & they broke with piercing loud cracks, each sending a chill down my spine.

Accident scene.

Dark Blue Family Car.

Silver Car of 2.

Close-up on Silver Car.

Nowadays cars get crushed up badly & make loud crashing sounds, all just to dissipate the shock & protect its occupants inside. That's why crash scenes often look deadly and messy, but the passengers are safe inside, beyond the compressible zones surrounding the exterior of the main cabin.

It's different from walking past & seeing the scene than to have the whole incident happened right in front of you. I guess those pedestrians at the junction would have had a greater shock. It felt like I have become one of those disaster videos on reality shows. I never thought it was possible for me to be at the scene right when the accident happens; it's just one of those things that we see on TV but not in real life. To have witnessed the whole process of the accident can roughly equate to experiencing the accident like the passengers in the car did; to go through the initial impact, the shock, and then the recovery.

After many more passers-by gathered & the passengers were all safely out of the car, we took our leave. & as we walked to the MRT station, the ambulance promptly rushed past us towards the scene.

Day 2: Chinatown MAF (Part II)

& so it was dark after our dinner @ Maxwell. Soya bean milk goes well with sweet bubble tea pearls, a good alternative to the market variance of grass jelly (which has tastes bitter by itself). Wandering around, we see Sri Mariamman Temple holding some sort of service, and the lights are brilliant. The temple is a beauty after its restoration, and is worth a revisit some other time.

The street market is abuzz with business, but the crowds are moderate, and the streets enjoyable.

A traditional lanterns stall, in pretty lights.

It's hard to find good old lanterns nowadays, as plastic battery-operated ones are safer, brighter, and has music coming out of them. They also come in shapes of favourite cartoon characters. However, I miss the old cylindrical paper lanterns, & how they make round shadows on the floor that shrink as you get nearer. There is also the joy of playing with candles, and then carefully peeping into the lantern every few seconds to make sure the candle hasn't fallen off its stand. The tiny fire flickers and the lantern has a warm glow to it. That is certainly more enjoyable than the mechanical melody of the light-bulb-lit lanterns.

A huge lantern decoration over the MRT station exit.

It's traditional festive mood with these huge rectangular lanterns with Chinese paintings on its screens, and intricate patterns lining its sides. Of course a stark contrast with the station exit architecture, but something locals have gotten used to & taken for granted these few years.

Beautiful design of a traditional lantern.

This is just one of the many similar lanterns they used to decorate the area. It has a very nice picture of Chang Er, drawn in the traditional Chinese way used to depict mythic & cultural characters, with the gold outlines & warm pastel colours with fading gradient.

Dragons rehearsing for CNY.

Of course the centre of attraction would be the Garden Bridge, a location famous for its CNY Firecrackers light-up. Two dragons line the bridge & meet at the city gate on one side. The symmetrical wave movement of their bodies symbolise an energetic and vibrant personality that is always on the move. Their orange glow exudes happiness and prosperity. It was an appreciable effort in decoration that brings on the festive mood. However, the Garden Bridge is flooded with too much pale white street lighting that spoils the ambience of the glowing lanterns.

The magnificent city gate & its guardians.

These dragons guard the grand city gate, which signifies the well-being of the community within, with its elaborate & intricate patterns & bright red lights. The Full Moon shines down from above, and the city is in a mood of festivity.

Lady Chang Er in her full glory.

Chang Er is a popular folk myth that tells the forlorn story of a relationship between her & the Qin Emperor. Soon she became the only representative role in that story, and had to prepare for lone appearances like this. Her second love on the Moon was also hardly around to be seen; most likely he would have been busy with his chores like we are on Earth. Poor Chang Er would appear in the clouds alone, while couples in love surround her to take photos. Even her rabbit is nowhere to be seen. She stands in the courtyard of two houses in an elegant pose, but behind that smile hides her sadness & loneliness.

She waves to us, as she prepares to board the shuttle home.

After we passed Chinatown Point and a little further toward Clarke Quay, it was time for us to go. Chang Er stood at the end, and once again waved to us. The bright 15th Moon shines behind her.

Mid-Autumn Festival in full bloom.

Enjoy your Mid-Autumn Festival with mooncakes and a cup of hot Chinese tea!

Day 2: Chinatown MAF (Part I)

Today was a sunny day. It was hot but the sight of the Sun was welcoming. I enjoyed the long shadows as the MRT cruised under the light of the setting Sun. Outram Park was busy with its usual crowd of elderly people and families. There was a basement shopping complex opening below Pearl Complex (just beside the MRT station), so we decided to take a look. Never mind the entrance staircase looked incomplete; there were people before us walking down it already. So we treaded down the stairs. The space looked sparkling new, & the shops look... unoccupied. It's natural for a newly opened space to have some unoccupied shops right? Besides the lighting & flooring were all nicely done up already. Then the guy walking in front stopped, & turned back to look. There was a couple standing with him; they were holding some paper. The guy looked at us puzzled. I stared back at him quizzically. Lips was already happily hopping down the last few steps while I stopped in the middle trying to make sense of it all. Then it was all so obvious; the couple was with their agent going to look at their new shop! Lol... so it's not open to public yet. Lips hurried up the stairs embarrasingly.

So we contended with browsing through the old shops on the 1st floor. Giordano was having a 20% sale with their GSS price tags, & we didn't see anything nice. Yangtze cinema was showing a Japanese show & some other stuff. It's been getting some attention lately for its promise to show stuff other than "art". It was a peaceful evening in Chinatown.

Beautiful blooming flowers welcoming motorists to Chinatown Mid-Autumn Festival.

There is an animal kingdom where the characters play & flaunt their beauty in the small grass patch between the roads.

The Prince of the jungle birds perched high among its fellow mates.

Ladybirds sunning their wings with the flowers.

"Hurry up or we'll be late for Chang Er's mooncake treat tomorrow!"

A beautiful swan in a stunning pose taking flight.

Next, we went into the maze of street market, where they were selling small yam & a plant part that looks like a pair of black horns (凌角). The yam is supposed to be "in season" right about Mid-Autumn Festival week, and there were many stalls selling them. But what we saw next was stranger:

Radioactive glowing mooncakes =O

Looks like tabletop decorations? No... they are edible mooncakes of a different ingredient. These mooncakes are best eaten cold, & they have a bouncy texture. Still can't get it? They're "Agar-agar", or jelly mooncakes. So special...

It was day-time when we came:
And in a blink it was night:

To be continued...

Day 1: Cooking

Today was a cloudy day. It was one of those days when the sky was a uniformly dull grey & you couldn't see where it ended. There was an uneasy feeling of enclosure, of being masked.

We were planning for a Barbeque outing, but decided against it due to the impending weather & consistent laziness. Instead, we went grocery shopping @ the nearby Jurong Point to prepare a home-cooked dinner. There wasn't supposed to be much cooking involved; the trick was to get something that can be made in 5 minutes, then add lots of side ingredients & decorations to make it look cooked up.

So we ended up with spaghetti & sauce, & 2 tubs of ice-cream for dessert. The preparation was a mess; the tiny veggie things need to be rinsed 2-3times to wash off the shells (much like beansprouts), and they keep clinging on to my hands. The fresh shitake mushrooms were fragile & in my regular habit I scrubbed them and pieces broke off. The only part that was easy to handle was cutting the black olives. I just picked them out of the jar using the small knife, like how a pirate would pick his food. So after much tossing & cooking, the fragrant smell of the tomato pasta sauce & tingling sweet aroma of ready-to-eat salmon mix meant it's ready to eat. & this is what we had for dinner:


Looks like we grew some veggie hair on our spaghetti, & that yellowish soil works really well. Whatever, it was tasty & filling. & if one wasn't enough:


A while after that, we dug into our tubs of Wall's ice-cream (which was on offer, $5.60 for 2 1L tubs). The Apricot & Peach was smooth & nice, the fruit bits were soft & edible. The Chocolate & Strawberry is just the usual sweet stuff. Get the A&P, it's nice for the price.

And later that night, I managed to spend 5 hours on my homework (while surfing forums & chatting), & dutifully completed my Physics online assignment. Cheers! One down, more to go.