Cavalock and The Shake Shack Sanctuary

Never dropped by their first outlet here at Jewel and come to think of it, I have never ever even stepped into Jewel itself! Am I a rare breed or what? Anyway, me and the Baker-at-Home found ourselves at Shake Shack's latest outlet at Liat Towers earlier this week. In case you are wondering, the queue along sidewalk is the takeaway queue and it's not indicative of how crowded it is inside the restaurant. Cos when we were there, there was a queue outside but it wasn't packed at all inside. I had the same thing I usually have when I'm at their overseas outlets, their mushroom Shroom Burger. I still remember the first time at it at JFK Airport, I thought it was a mushroom burger with mushrooms and beef patty instead of what it really was, a giant but rather delicious mushroom patty.  The Baker-at-Home enjoyed her Shack Stack, first time having that. The Pandan Shake was meh. We miss the Black Sesame Shake from their Tokyo Marunouchi outlet so much.

Check this out! One of the many retro nuggets I just found at me Dad's house. Yah, been awhile since I did one of these retro posts. It belonged to me late Mom and it dates all the way back to 1963. It's still in damn good condition. Now I can imagine all them classy ladies opening up this here booklet in the salon back in the 60s and pointing to one them pages. Speaking of the 1960s, I'm finally catching up on Umbrella Academy Season 2. So far, so good. I just hope the ending doesn't suck and it makes sense. Having said that, I can live with a cliffhanger. As of this here typing, ah believe ah am in episode six.

Wow, this really made me reminisce bout me living with me aunts and uncles back when I was a kid. We always had Motown, country or even the occasional classical music playing somewhere in that old house. I reckon it's time to open me YouTube mix starting with The Four Tops. 

Cavalock and The Carpe Diem Rallyng Cry

Weekend breakfasts at Starter Lab is starting to be our thing now. The Baker-at-Home likes their menu and I like spending lazy mornings having breakfast outside the apartment with her. Their honeyed mascarpone with walnuts on toast is my go-to breakfast meal. Always liked something extra sweet to start off the day. All that followed by a leisurely saunter to Tiong Bahru to grab some fresh produce before heading home. You know you are old when you just can't wait to be back home even on the weekends. 

Speaking of old, me 86-year-old Dad recently traded in his Nikon D500 camera for a Sony mirrorless A9. Here are some of his first shots with his new toy.

Well, me Dad wasn't the Dad wasn't the only one in the family who went on a shopping spree last week. Check out my Amazon haul! Boardgames that I have eyeing for awhile and was fortunate to grab them when they went on sale on Amazon. From top to bottom, there's the Barbarian Hordes expansion to Empires of the North, Carpe Diem and Rurik: Dawn of Kiev. 

I have read many glowing reviews of Carpe Diem (Seize The Day) and after playing the game several times, I am glad to say that the hype is real and it has become one of my favourite games of all time. Plus I got it at almost half price from Singapore Amazon! Delivery the next freakin' day! This is a tile-laying game where players are rich patricians in Ancient Rome and we are all trying to build a lucrative city district by grabbing tiles in the centre of the board and laying in your area. Tiles would represent various parts of the city such as bakery, fountain or sections of a villa, vineyard or even a chicken coop. 

The rules are extremely simple, you can only move left or right, choose a tile and then decide exactly where do you want to place it. Where you place and how you connect the tiles would determine how many points you score at the end of the game. It's so simple yet deep. With multiple ways to score, I love how it tickles the brain as you try maximise your points. 

Yes, I'm trying my darnest to slip in the Carpe Diem theme into this entire post. Argh....

Cavalock and The Home Tourist Incongruity

So me and the guys decided to do the local tourist thing and ended up in Changi Point for an hour-long morning walk along the coast. Fortunately the weather was on our side, sunny and breezy just the way we like it. It was a good walk, more like a lazy stroll actually. Took our time to breathe in the fresh air, snap some pictures, one of the guys even shot a little go-pro movie of our morning. 

That's the thing, I can get behind all this local tourist nature trips but what I don't get are staycations. I don't get the appeal of it especially if you already have your own apartment. Me and the Baker-at-Home did the staycation thingy back when we were young (and restless) and didn't have our own place yet. But after we moved in, a staycation is the last thing on our minds. Pay a little more and you can probably turn that staycation into a proper vacation. Alright, I guess if you have kids a staycation is something they would enjoy. Cos I remember after me and my folks moved out of the old family home, this was when I was still in primary school, I would look forward to the rare weekends when I would or could stay over with my aunts and uncles, and wake up in my old room. 

Anyway in these coming Endtimes, I'm also not sure if it's prudent to spend on something like a staycation in the first place. Now, free nature walks around the island, that's something I wholeheartedly support.

Spotted this at Isetan supermarket. Really? Can anyone tell the difference between Espresso ice-cream, coffee ice-cream and now cold brew coffee ice-cream? 

Cavalock and The Earth, Wind & Fire September Birthday Post

I was gonna do a collage of my dinner at Esora but reducing all them food pix into tiny little pix just ain't gonna do them justice. The Baker-at-Home and me got in at the tail-end of their Summer menu season, just a week before they switched to their Autumn menu. The last time I was there was back in June of last year. This is another amazing three-hour dinning experience that we both missed immensely  for over a year. We actually made reservations for early this year but the Lockdown started and, well, you know the rest.

That evening we decided to forgo the sake and wine tasting menu and went for a full bottle of sake instead. I'm not kidding when I say the Baker-at-Home has become sort of an amateur sake connoisseur. When we were at Mustard Seed a couple weeks ago, she went for the sake tasting menu while I nursed a cold Japanese beer instead. Anyway, with social distancing at Esora, that meant less patrons but looking at how busy the staff already were that night, it's hard to imagine how much busier they would be with more folks to serve. It's an 8-course meal sprinkled with insightful conversation nuggets with the talented staff, and that's all coming from the Baker-at-Home. I'm the introvert one in the relationship. Hah! 

Grilled Hamaguri - Chiba kujo negi, hanaho

Kue - Nagasaki eggplant, wasabina

Omi Wagyu - Okaki Farm akazu, manganji pepper

Akamutsu Donabe - Fukuoka watercress

Wasanbon Caramel ice-cream, honey truffle, sweet potato

Now no matter what folks are saying bout how beneficial it is to be working out at home, it just can't beat the gym. Yah, I'm back at the gym for bout a month now and after my first gym session, my limbs were aching and sore once again even though I have been climbing 28 floors every other day before that, lifting teeny weeny dumbbells and stretching in my tiny little apartment. All them news articles on how easy it is to be working out at home? Yah sure, it's definitely better than nothing but I think I just can't do without the equipment in the gym. Is that a bad thing? I dunno. I know it's bad for me wallet.

Yes, of cos I'm listening to this classic while I'm blogging this here article. My birthday month ain't without playing this little MTV gem.

Cavalock and The 9% Alcohol Goodness

Always a blast whenever I get to discover a new kind of booze from Japan at our local Don Don Donki. Seems like they are bringing in the pretty strong stuff, I mean we looking at 9% alcohol here. Decided to go for the Suntory Highball instead of the Kirin Sour cos ....er... highball. Have yet to crack it open but definitely will do so this month cos it's me birthday month!

So the Baker-at-Home is out for dinner with her friends and it's one of those rare moments when I'm home alone, left to my own devices and all that. Naturally it's time for a blast from the past with playlist from the 80s, or rather some rock ballads from the 80s to be exact. Watching the music videos, I'm like thinking just how old all the gorgeous big-hair supermodels in the videos are today? When I first saw the videos, I was a kid and they were like the hottest living creatures on the planet. Remember, no Internet back then. I'm sure not all of them have OD-ed ...cos... you know, coke was big during the 80s. Gawd, I'm so politically incorrect today. Hah! No, I'm not drunk yet. And No, I'm not gonna name the videos below cos where would the fun be in that?

Heheh... a little friend dropped by for a home visit in me coffee cup this afternoon.