Jap @ Golden Shoe

Reached HQ before 8am on Thur for the monthly management meeting. Thanks to ah nia who brought yummy char siew pao, ta pao n siew mai from Redhill market for my breakfast else my stomach will be protesting in the long dreadful meeting.

Lunch, I joined the queue to tapao Katsu Don from this rather popular Jap stall at Golden Shoe. For $4.20, the portion is generous and taste quite good.

Strawberry n peach smoothies from Eelingo Coffee, surprisingly at Golden Shoe.

Singapore Food Expo 2008

Popped over to the Singapore Food Expo on Tue (27 May 08) which was the last day of the event that started on 23rd May 08.

The hall was fully packed with people but it was not as chaotic as I had imagined.

Nothing exciting. We managed to have a fried boneless chicken wing with prawn, otah wrapped in prata (pic below) and sausage fried rice. Almost everyone have something on their hands, many carrying bags of products.

We only bought 2 packs of Korean instant noodles for $7.50.



Exhibitors busy clearing their stuff out of the event hall.

Hill Top @ Tampines North CC

Kat, LLH & I wanted to have a good lunch and headed for Hill Top.

Free dessert... its very chewy like marshmallow (but not sweet) and filled with red bean paste. Very nice and original.






鼓椒肉片双面黄 Crispy noodle with fried pork n veg in black bean paste @ $5


法兰西炒饭 France fried rice @ $4.80


海鲜河粉 Seafood hor fun @ $4.50

Simply THAI

Some of the goodies from Thailand.


Cubes made of Egg floss and sugar from Thailand by S&P Food



Dried mango and pineapple @ about $6 per 100g.

Hans @ GE Building

Met ah nia at Hans, GE Building for breakfast before we proceed to have our 4 in 1 massage & facial which lasted for 4 hours.

Scrambled egg breakfast set @ $5:
- with ham n ice lemon tea
- with sausage n coffee


This place is so huge and spacious. Picutre below is only one-third of the restaurant.
The pastry n bread looks so delicious.

Dinner

My cough is back thanks to the following...

Siew Mai & Har Kaw tim sum


Black pepper chicken hot plate @ $7.50


Sizzling hot!


Curry bee hoon @ $3.50

Beauty Renaissance

Catalog

All Natural Cosmetics

The Art of Cheating

This is a true story on how to earn 80 bucks with absolutely no sweat.

Date : April 23, 2008
Day : Wednesday
Time : Around 10pm
Crime scene : Hougang Plaza Kopitiam
The Believer : J, a man who not only looks charitable but is truly a good Samaritan
The Cheater : A fat woman
Story by : Me, the not as ‘fortunate’ fat woman


The fat woman carrying a rather dated mobile phone walked up to the not so innocent looking man i.e. J, who was going to buy his dinner after a hard day’s work.

(The following conversation may not be the exact words and diction)
“Fat woman: "My mum has been admitted to SGH and I need money to take a cab there and pay for her admin fee which is $65 but I do not have an ATM card. Can I borrow $80? I will call you tomorrow to return the money.”

J: “………”

I have no idea whether any question was asked or any words of consolation were said… but J’s actions that followed made me want to switch career and be a ‘con’sultant.

Back home.

J: “I may have done something good or I may have been cheated…”

Me: “How much?”

J showed me 3 fingers.

Me (thinking it cannot be $3): ”$30?”

J shook his head.

Me (thinking this cannot be true): “$80???”

J: “………”

After hearing what that fat woman had told J, I asked if he has taken down her number. Somehow, I had expected the answer to be no.

I was dead sure that that fat woman must be laughing her fats off and smoking, gambling or happily feasting at some corner with the easy money. She didn’t even have to plot and think so hard for the storyline.

I asked J what would he do if that fat woman calls him tomorrow and ask for $1K cos her mum needs surgery or even better, dead.

J (thinking he has the brilliant answer): “I’ll pass the phone to you.”

Me: “Than I’ll offer to buy her a coffin.”

J: “!!!”

Fact is, that woman cursed her own mother in the first place and if her poor mother is really dead and she really has no money, I’m all ready to help.

J must have though that I’m a heartless woman who hardly give to charity and often criticize those who came fore to ask for donation on the streets. With so many fraud cases being reported, why are we still so giving?

How poor is poor? Who are truly the needy? I think I’m poor cos I can’t afford a car, condo, another branded bag, etc. When will I be rich enough? Are we measuring our wealth base on our assets?

In reality, it takes great courage for a person who is truly in need to ask for money from their own relatives and friends, let alone from a complete stranger on the street. That fat woman has a damn mobile phone, dun she has anyone to call? And I’m sure some kind hearted taxi driver will be more than willing to give her a free ride. And you mean our hospitals will not attend to the patient if they can’t pay the $65 admin fee?

My point is, be charitable, care for the needy, earn those karma points but please do not give blindly. Be more selective and give to those only if you think deserve it. Stop encouraging and giving hope to those freeloaders who are too proud to work for a living, blame the whole world but them and think other people are responsible for keeping them alive.

If you can’t help feeling that they are genuinely in need of money, go the extra mile and offer to bring them to where they are going, call the police for them and put a cap to how charitable (monetary wise) you wan to be or how much are you willing to lose.

You can only blame yourself for being cheated… again.

Yummy Fish Muruku (寶寶餅)

Now only did I realise that my favourite fish muruku (寶寶餅) by Thien Cheong (天祥) is actually from Penang.

Sakura Buffet @ Tampines Safra

The team benefited from Michelle’s recent promotion. She bought us lunch at Sakura.

China Earthquake and Myanmar Cyclone Relief Efforts

Please pledge your donation today via Red cross Society.

Crab @ Mellben

Weeks of been crabby for crabs, someone finally satisfied his craving at Mellben Seafood 龙海鲜螃蟹王 at blk 232 AMK Ave3 (opposite Mayflower Sec). I later found out that the second branch is right across the carpark but its called Uncle Leong's Seafood and the third branch at blk 211 Lor 8 Toa Payoh.

Butter crab (牛油蟹) @ $53.20. The lady suggested that we get 2 small crabs instead of 1 large one since both cost the same at $28 for 1kg. Mistake, small crabs = little meat.

Next time, must try their Claypot Crab Beehoon and Crispy Mellben Tofu.




5 mini bun @ $2

Lunch

Sweet n Sour Pork with maggi mee
- Dip pork with beaten egg and pepper
- Coat with flour and deep fry till golden brown. Set aside.
- Stir-fry capsicum, onion, carrot and dried chili.
- Add ketchup, chili, water and continue to stir-fry until carrot and capsicum are cooked.
- Add black pepper, deep fried pork and stir-fry for a while.
- Separately, boil water and cook maggi mee.
- Place cooked maggi mee on plate and pour sweet n sour pork over.

The Manhattan Fish Market

Finally I had MFM. We were at the Central around 2pm and was in time to catch their lunch special which is from 12noon to 3pm.

We ordered the Manhattan Seafood Platter for Two @ $39.90 comes with soup of the day and choice of soft drinks or Seasons Ice Iemon Tea.






Cream of mushroom soup


Flaming prawns


Whole seabass, mussels, over flamed prawns, fried silver fishes, special fries, mix veg and butter rice.




Sea bass carcass and a near empty pan


Pheonix at South Bridge Road celebrating Vesak Day.