Showing posts with label love. Show all posts
Showing posts with label love. Show all posts
Hong Kong Street family restaurant: Zi Char that is easy on the wallets
Labels:
bedok north,
chinese,
chinese food,
family friendly,
love,
thoughts
·
Recently, a dearest friend of mine announced her short trip back to Singapore and Malacca. I was to pick her up from the airport and decide on a dinner venue suitable to satisfy the hankerings of a starving Asian (especially after her flight). After feverishly flipping through my choices mentally, I settled on Hong Kong Street Family Restaurant situated in Bedok North; just a short ride away from the airport.
A Zi Char restaurant in air-conditioned settings, this no frills joint offers a wide array of dishes not uncommon to most neighbourhood coffee shop joints. However, truth is that the menu is dotted with handful of gems, if you heed advice and order the recommended items, you'll certainly be in for a treat.
The Prawn Paste Chicken gets my strong stamp of approval. Salty, aromatic and crisp, this version is extremely addictive, so go ahead and order a bigger plate if you must. Definitely a place to get my Ha Jiong Gai fix.
Our next dish of Stir Fried Sweet potato leaves was a mandatory vegetable order that proved a little mainstream, paling in comparison to Soup Kitchen's rendition. Not flavoursome enough and cooked a little too Al-Dente, the greens failed to impress.
Next up, the signature San Lou Hor Fun, which comes with a commendable amount of delicate fish slices and delectably sauced and slightly charred noodles. Definitely one of the better ones I've tried locally.
Last of all, the Cereal Prawns. I adore this dish, choosing to succumb to it as I slowly spooned by way through the mountain of nestum flakes on the plate. The combination of sweet with the savouriness of the crispy prawns complimented with the occasional curry leaf for that aromatic touch was certainly well executed in this dish.
Hong Kong Street Family Restaurant, judging from the throngs of people filling the dining area on a typical weekend night; has won the hearts of many patrons with it's simple zi char dishes done to top notch standards. Should you have a family occasion approaching and am afraid to burn too big a hole in your pockets, this place would definitely be a good choice.
A picture thrown in for good measure. To Elicia, who is safely back in Sydney once more... Till we meet again my friend.
20 Eastwood Road
#01-03
Tel: 62453881
The Essence of Christmas
A severely late but mandatory Christmas Dinner post. I was reminded of the essence of Christmas this year as being a celebration of God's gift of salvation and love to us. Misrepresented by modern practices, it is not the gifts nor the food and the making merry that make up Christmas but our hearts in communal gratitude while receiving God's precious gift.
Still.. there must be food. Hence...
an excessive 3 turkeys on the chopping block = turkey sandwiches for a good long time.
Homemade Pork roulade with apple sauce
a never-ending traffic of busy hands grappling for food over the dining table.
Everything has changed
Labels:
australia,
cakes,
desserts,
family,
Le Cordon Bleu,
love,
sydney,
travelling
·
Something happened today that rattled a nostalgic bone of mine.
Most of you would not know this, but I regret not writing a post/diary entry or any form of written recount of the stories that occurred back during my 8 month stint in the army. Yes I know it might have been years ago, but still, the experience, the hardships, the friendships fostered, these were beautiful and worth remembering in every right. So with the passing of my very first overseas study experience, I shall enumerate it's unfolding. Burn the candle on both ends till its done, lest my procrastination habits kick in.
I'm bringing in the coffee on this one. it's going to be a long night.
So it started off with a very innocent request to the parents to study patisserie in Le Cordon Bleu whilst in my third year of university. Back then, it was a struggle, we're not even talking about keeping the grades up but my hopes were sinking like a dead weight to the bottom of the sea. Working thru the dark period and the other middle eastern drama that ensued afterwards, I finally earned my keeps to an entirely new experience.
Flashing back to the first moment i stepped out of Sydney airport, the cold winter air slapping me across the face. I never felt so alive before, the past few years of self inflicted pain, like a load, shoved off my shoulders. I took my a breath of liberty. My first.
Living in Australia strangely made me a very independent individual. I fed myself when I was hungry (not too difficult when you have all the leftover bakes from school), clothed myself warmly for the winter, got around to places (public transport is pretty convenient in sydney too) and found myself jobs just to earn my keeps. let's see, I started off being a waitress at a small cafe in Balmain, that stint lasted for about 7 months, Loved the wraps and the lebanese themed specials. Then I juggled the job of pastry cook at a dessert bar specialising in dessert pizzas in the form of cinnamon scroll like delights stuffed with a myriad of ingredients including brownie, streusel, bananas, chocolate sauce and apple pie mixture. Following an unanticipated closing down of the business, I moved on to become a dishwasher at a nearby cafe/restaurant near my area of residence. Needless to say, I smelt of food everyday, the stench of sweat coupled with splatters of grease on my black shirt following me into the soft sheets of my bed. From there, I was promoted to kitchen hand where I started to deal with food preparation, slicing, dicing, marination and gradually moved up to the pass where I got to take charge of the sauces and garnish stations for breakfast. That deserves an honorable mention, I feel, as I listen to the sweet rambling of my classmates going on and on about their tiresome part time work at patisseries; I on the other hand was busting it out in a proper cuisine kitchen. My fingers burnt and swollen from handling the hot cast iron pans on the grill. Battle scars as we call them... The day the chef called in a new dishwasher to handle my old job, I smiled whilst passing on words of advice as he scurried around like a headless chicken; the boiling hot pans and oily dishes piled up to dizzy heights. I had gone somewhere...
School on the other hand seemed the opposite spectrum of what the real world is like. Slow paced and extremely laidback.. i mostly took the time to absorb whatever I could while fooling around with whatever I could lay my hands on. making taiwanese meat pies out of quiches and curry chicken to go along with the fresh baguettes from our ovens; I was known to most of my chefs as 'the girl who would always does something different'; not sure whether that's a good thing or bad thing, i mostly like to believe its the former.
The terms flew by like the wind.. basic, intermediate and then superior. With the final judgement of our original gateau, it was off to the working world. Out of God's blessing, I landed myself a job in Cheeky Chocolate at North Strathfield. Lucky since I was competing with many of my graduating classmates for the job. But the serious work only ensued after my participation in the Hunter Valley Callebaut Chocolate Entremet competition. After weeks of hard work, tormenting sessions of brainstorming, trials and tears of befuddlement; the D-day had finally arrived. All the anticipation and nervousness just disappeared on the day of the event, plating up completed like a breeze. Perhaps it was the venue, the proximity of hunter valley from our work benches in Sydney that made any form of regrets or hopes for last minute adjustments almost impossible that somehow put my mind at ease. The prospect of an imminent ending bestowed in my heart. At the end of the day, I emerged a silver medalist. A huge feat considering I was a total noob in the scene and it was an open competition with many of my peers having been in the pastry scene for much longer than I have.
A million thanks goes out to my mentor and head chef Andre Sandison for his constant guidance and gentle prodding in the process of research and development. Thank you for not letting go of your expectations towards me.
Life in Cheeky Chocolate was another out of this world experience. Whilst I happily sunk myself into a comfortable pace of learning at work, a sudden turn of events left us handicapped in numbers. Yumi, I and Adele struggled to keep the place afloat. we hit rock bottom when a new head chef entered our midst and stirred up chaos in the kitchen, abolishing certain production rituals whilst creating non-sensical others. With a demonic temper to boot and a not so domineering idea of a menu in tow, it wasn't long before he was given the boot. Despite his short term of stay, the damages had been done.... we had lost another in the midst of the friction caused between the boss and our dearest apprentice. There I was left to pick up the broken pieces of the shop. It was a miracle I found a team in time to help me speed up the recuperation process. Till date, I hold this as a proudest achievement. Not that I got any recognition out of it (maybe an article in the strathfield good food guide), but still, silently I recognize my capabilities when put to the pressure test.
With all that done. you would wonder why in the world would I return to singapore given that my basic pay in Australia was at least double the amount I would receive here. That's where I left out a part of the story. The part that tugs at my heart string and releases butterflies into the cavities of my vacant heart. G. Had it not been for him, I wouldn't have had a blast in school. G rubbed my swollen ankles before bedtime, listening to my tales of braving the cockroach infested backalley while dragging the trashbags to the main bins. G kept me warm thru those cold nights. G nurtured me back to health after a bout of flu which put me through a series of vomiting spells on the way home from work, G accompanied me to the beach at sunrise just because I wanted to. I only joined the hunter valley competition because G was taking part in the chocolate showpiece event. G laughed at my lame jokes and silly antics and made me feel much less of a dork than I am. G and I went to beautiful places to enjoy spell binding moments together. G helped me pull through my experience at Cheeky, giving advice and listening to my complaints all in symphony.
And to sum it all up, G is my reason.
new toy!
Labels:
love,
photography
·
Like the little kid in the backseat who blurts out "are we there yet?" for the umpteeneth time on his way to disneyland.
So here's unveiling the new addition to the family. Howe ( I took the liberty of naming it after the owner whom I purchased this beauty from), a QL 17 Canonet Rangefinder.
So here's in the introduction. Short and blunt. That's just the way it is since he renders me breathless with every gentle squeeze of the shutter (i need to get one of those soft release bugs!). With a banging 40mm/f1.7 lens and the sharpest viewfinder I've heard people compliment me on, (considering it's a 30year old camera now), this tugs at every heart string left in my heart.
And it works so well... Here are some photos from my recent walk-about (as Nullah from Australia would put it).
I don't want to go to jail Ma!
and around Haji Lane/Arab street area.
below are some thumbnails as well. Feel free to click on them for the full image! Hope you guys enjoy the shots. Promise to bring you more photos from my darling soon so stay tuned. Looking into the possibility of a tumblr or lomography account as a avenue to share my film photography endeavors. What do you guys reckon?
The story ends.
There are days
when I feel
The best of me
is ready to begin (the end)
Then there's (the) days
when I feel
I'm letting go
and soaring on the wind
'Cause I've learned in laughter or in pain
How to survive!
I get on my knees!
I get on my knees!
There I am before the Love
That changes me
See I don't know how
But there's power
When I'm on my knees
I can be
in a crowd
Or by myself
and almost anywhere
When I feel
there's a need
To talk with God
He is Emmanuel
When I close my eyes,
no darkness there
There's only light!
I get on my knees
I get on my knees
There I am before the Love that changes me
See I don't know how, but there's power
In the blue skies, in the midnight
When I'm on my knees
I get on my knees
I get on my knees
There I am before the Love
That changes me
See I don't know how, but there's power
When I'm on my, oh, when I'm on my
When I'm on my knees
For those who don't already, I've pulled the plug on a long standing relationship with my babe; and to all those who already know that bit, I figured that a bit of explanation would be good.
So it took me a dreadfully long three years to realize that as much as I enjoyed our time together, he was not the one that I could see myself spending the rest of my life with. At least not with a little bit of resentment going on. Truthfully, the both of us started off on the wrong foot, mostly on my part as I was extremely sore from a past relationship, and what he had to offer me was a safe haven, far away from from the hurtful past and uncertainties lurking. There, he nursed my wounds, putting a smile to my face when I thought that all was dead; slowly the gaps in my heart closed up an genuine joy creep into my heart every time he is near. Grateful for his tireless efforts, I stuck with him. With that, three years snuck past, and I came to a startling realization that my love for him constituted large amounts of gratitude and guilt. In my heart, I knew that he was giving all he was capable of just to please me whereas I had nothing to give him in return.
Then, it came time for me to pack up and leave for Dubai; as most long distance relationships are, this was not easy. Without counting on his daily efforts to see me everyday, our relationship dwindled to the point where I steered clear of calls and messages from him in my bid for freedom. Clearly I lacked the dedication and commitment to this in contrary to his positive outlook on it in entirety. Then, it came to dawn that I didn't love him as much as he loved me; and I couldn't deal with that. I had to let go of it lest both of us get even more hurt in the end. And that's how the story ends.
To babe, I don't know whether you'll be reading this, but I want to thank you with all the heartfelt gratitude in me for leading me through the storm, for giving till you've got nothing to give. You were never in the wrong, nor can you do anymore to become the one. I'm sorry for hurting you like this, but I don't want you to suffer a larger blow in time to come. Thank you for loving me and teaching me how to love again. May the Lord continue to bless you and guide you as you walk thru life with him on your right side. Be strong.
much better
Labels:
love,
thoughts,
travelling
·
Stepped into the world of photoshop where errors made during a series of fumbles and heat-exhausted mind cropped shots can be remedied. Is it considering cheating? Well, I shrug that notion off. Meanwhile, learning curves are twitching up the ladder. So much to learn... so little time.
In the impending wait, here are some photos sans retouching. Candids and street shots from the more then willing family. Enjoy!
messy streets of Phuket. See a ba-pok? RUN!!!
Patong beach in broad daylight. Note the rows of beach chairs for lounging. Mind you, they don't come free.
Spa haven. Did 1 full-body scrub, 2 oil massages and 2 foot refloxology sessions in a span of a week. *ahhh*
Endless feasting on seafood at every meal. It's not really that funny after a week long of squid chomping, trust me, I'm prawn phobic now.
Para-sailing.
On our way to Phi Phi Island.
I don't recall the meaning of the pose we adopted but oh well, that's a group shot for you!
Awaiting sunset at the viewpoint. It only got better after scampering over the hill halfway during the sun's glorious decent to a different location with a MUCH better view.
Nutella Crepes. Had this 2 days in a row for dessert whilst stationed on the island. Any idea where do they sell this in Spore?
My mum with that classic 'lift spectacles, dip head' position when taking photographs.
My dad probably trying to get into the driver's good books with a pat on his back and a smirk 'you're a good man... so give us a good price.' speech. Yep. What's new?
My lil brother and younger cousin whom I adore so much.
Our pathetic little waterfall which I was so enthusiastic about. sigh..
Finally at the airport after a week long trip to sunny phuket. I enjoyed it thoroughly despite having the fight off the flu bugs halfway thru the trip. Thanks Dad for planning and organising and to the rest for being such fantastic travelling partners!
To my dearest family, this trip has made me realise how much at ease I am around you all. Being myself isn't much of a problem despite my adopting of this peculiar two-face thing-a-ma-gig when I'm amongst others. It would be what you call, comfortable love. I'll be lying if I said I won't miss you all so much whilst I'm away. Well, but according to my mantra, when there's a job to be done, it has to be done. So I'll hang in there till I next see you guys again! Hope that is soon...
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