Cavalock and One Week in Sillypore 11

Some ups, some downs. I guess you could say that this past week was just like any other week and you know what that means! Yup, the perfect excuse to do another of my 'One Week in Sillypore' schtick. On the home front, it was a visit to the Dark Side as we got these Darth Vader butter cookies rolling outta the tiny apartment kitchen and to another little kid's birthday party. We just got the Star Wars cutters earlier this month but each piece here still had to be individually hand-painted. Sure hope the kids like them!

Being home alone means another chance to put together some easy dishes. I know the below pix ain't gonna win any points for plating but it sure tasted great. My own version of cioppino. Thanks to the Internet, putting it all together wasn't that difficult. Mine was a fisherman's stew filled with chunks of codfish, scallops, prawns, onions, potatoes and a carrot. It was a hearty dinner for one and it certainly kept me from going to bed hungry that night. I sure miss cooking at home!

Never been a fan of Korean food but I'm slowly getting there. After my brief Korean immersion in New York, I kinda developed an affinity for their BBQ beef. So here's a nice Korean joint in Tras Street called Sodam that I would seriously recommend, great sizzling BBQ beef at a reasonable price and really friendly service. To me, it's always a good thing when the native Korean staff recognises you.

Another unforgettable meal of the week was the buffet lunch at The Lime restaurant at ParkRoyal hotel. An enticing Peranakan and Western spread that had me stuffed for the rest of the day. Had the table by the large glass walls facing the sidewalk and observed the many office minions scampering off for their midday meals. Like hordes of mindless rodents fervently searching for their next feed. So animated in their brutish movements and behaviour but still soulless in all their inane conversations. Was rather amused to glimpse a past life that has somehow now slipped beyond my grasp, for better or worse.

Picked up some of the new Lego Series 12 minifigures this last week too. Now I'm talking about the real deal original Lego here, not the usual fake Lego minifigires that I usually buy. ;) Really was looking forward to this latest set simply becos of the facial expressions on some of the new minifigures. Mixing and matching the new and old minifigures' body parts in my collection till I achieved a 'fresh' one. The winking look, the kissy face, the new hairdos, they were all perfect for coming up with wacky dioramas like this Lorong Lego in Geylang. Well, I expect local guys would appreciate this little pix.

So my 80-year-old Dad bought a new Nikon V2 recently as his previous Canon camera was getting too heavy for him to lug around the island. He's still learning to use it and I have been going through some of his wildlife pix. I'm not much of a camera guy, the only V2 I know are the World War II German rockets that rained down on London during the infamous Blitz.

One more thing that caught my attention last week was the news of the hacking and leaking of certain celebrities' nude selfies. Yah, I am aware that the incident was a month ago and it's probably old news by now but I was just reading several articles about it, and noticed something was severely lacking in them. Now I want to say that I do agree that it's a horrible crime and we shouldn't watch or promote the images. 

But no one in the news stories was saying that one shouldn't be taking nude selfies in the first place. I mean I know it's not against the law or anything, and an adult should be free to do anything he or she wants with his or her body. I also know the main message is about the violation of one's privacy etc. and not whether one should or should not take nude selfies in the first place. But shouldn't someone, anyone at least mention in all those articles that maybe (just maybe!!!) taking nude selfies might not such be a good idea to begin with? 

Remember not too long ago when politicians in different countries were caught and chastised for taking nude selfies? Seems like while everyone back then was screaming that politicians shouldn't be taking nude selfies to start with, apparently no one is saying that to the celebrities now.

Far as I'm concerned, taking a nude selfie ranks up there with common sense things you probably shouldn't be doing, like 'get a full face tattoo before a job interview', or 'go skateboarding in the middle of the highway during rush hour' or 'pretend you got Ebola on a crowded plane'. It's common sense advice that any sane mom in the world would tell her kids, "Girl (or son), don't you go taking naked pictures of yourself! Y'hear me?!?". 

Unless there's a mom out there who thinks it's perfectly alright for their children (grown-up or otherwise) to take nude selfies, then I say folks (men and women) shouldn't be taking nude selfies. I think that's a pretty reasonable benchmark, if mom thinks it's wrong, then it usually is! But seriously, are people really that daft and not see the downside of taking nude selfies at all? Or at the very least, stop reporting like it's a normal thing everyone should be doing on their coffee break.

Cavalock and One Week in Sillypore 10

Another dreary week has slipped by and although it wasn't exactly a bland one, it was rather a chore to recall a single event or occurrence that really stood out. Besides my usual caregiving duties, I did find time to join my gaming friends for dinner at the popular Keng Eng Kee restaurant at Bukit Merah. Was my first time having their signature 'Wat Tan' Hor Fun and Braised Liver Claypot and they were as good as I expected them to be. You can't really taste the eggs after mixing them up with the noodles and the livers weren't too chewy. Don't bother with the crabs, I think the ones at Mellben and No Sighboard are much better.

Went rampaging through the old family home again and found these nuggets from the 1970s. Remember bookmarks?

I have no idea how these work but for a S$2 Daiso product, it's pretty cool in a weird snake-oil-salesman kinda way. Do they work like regular glasses too?

On my way out on Saturday for another Heroclix tournament, felt the wind bellowing, looked up and realised that I was at ground zero of an Asgardian-level 2 storm.

Bought the Back to the Future Lego set months ago and finally found the time (and mood) to put it together. Took me a little less three hours to build it. It's really neat cos you can mod the car into three  different versions from each movie. I'll post the pix next time. Yes, I know it's a shameless effort to get readers to return to this blog but ... :(

Spent last Monday afternoon with my 80-year-old Dad going through his latest wildlife photos and I thought this was a pretty cool shot. He said there are two nestlings in there and has been staking out the nest for about a week. I still think someone his age should just take it real easy and not criss-cross the island every morning at the break of dawn while lugging a ton of camera equipment.

Well, it's World Cup time again and we actually had an order of cookies a couple weeks ago for a children's party and came up with this. More than a few of my friends are betting away like crazy every day now and they even created a Whatsapp chatroom for it. I'm the only guy in it who doesn't watch or bet on any of the matches but it's fun to read their (very) early morning chats on who to bet on. If you had read my earlier post, you would know I was betting quite heavily on soccer years ago. Not something I'm terribly proud of but I must say it was remarkably easy for me to quit. Don't really understand why other people have trouble quitting.

Cavalock and One Week in Sillypore 9

Several years ago, I did a buncha posts called under the "One Week in Sillypore" banner which is kinda like a collection of random weird pix I took over the week (give or take a couple days!) while at work. Well, since I stopped working and became a full-time caregiver I noticed that my posts have been more or less bout the same topics. So I figured I'll just revive it just this one time and see if anyone likes it or not.

Wonderful but pricey chirashi lunch at Aoki Restaurant. I really like how the rice and sashimi are separated instead of putting them all in a bowl like how most other places do. That little mushroom, cod roe in a clear soup and dip was a separate deal, and it was amazing too. Dessert was a excellent combination of melon ice-cream, green tea mousse and Japanese jelly which I think is yuzu. A perfect complement to a flawless main course.

Every gamer in the world is talking about it. The online collectible card game Hearstone is one of the ways I de-stress these days. I actually started playing it on the desktop several months ago when it was first out on Beta. Stopped for awhile then returned to it when it was released on the iPad and all my friends started playing it again too. If you know the game, you'll know what an awesome setup I got going on below. Strung him out and deck-death the guy.

I really love Liang Court and it's not just cos of Meidi-ya supermarket. Here we have a seemingly normal-looking men's tailor shop. I'm sure am curious to see who actually purchases that. Cosplayers maybe? Y'know that anime with that king in that castle and that thing he does while wearing that robe ...?

Then there's always this to look forward to in Meidi-ya. Stuff you most likely can't find in our regular supermarkets. A brand of boorish cereals and ice-cream soda by the same folks behind the famous root beer float.

Here's how I have been enjoying my Japanese maple honey. Brought it out with me whenever I'm having a pancake breakfast meal at McDonald's. Way better than that overly sweet syrup they give out.

A random pix that opens the door to numerous awesome culinary possibilities and another that'll sure to drive some churches ape-shit crazy. You are welcome!

One Week in Sillypore 8

Late to bed and early to rise, that pretty much sums up how last week went for me. Been busy with a couple projects that had me hammering at the keyboard way into the nite and early morning. Well, alright I kinda prefer working at nite so I did 'internationally delayed' some stuff till almost midnite.

When your life is just too booorrrring to blog about, or when you are just too busy to try putting together anything new or trying out a new joint, it's time for that mixed-up, anything-goes, filler post I like to call A Week in Sillypore! :P

As busy as I was, I still managed to pick up an heirloom of sorts. A customized iron kueh bulu mold that's like over 50 years old. Notice how the molds are smaller than the ones you find in the shops these days and there are different shapes too. Plus you need a flaming charcoal fire burning, below and on top, to get this thing working, no on-switch here. Neat huh?

A bunch of stuff I'll be mailing to an American ex-boss in Hoboken, New Jersey. Wonder if she knows Cake Boss?

Something new at the supermarket again. This looks nice. Holiday Chocs from the US. First time seeing it at NTUC FairPrice. Anyone picked it up?

Call it obinmushi or dobin mushi, it's that familiar and hearty Japanese teapot soup. Besides the seasonal ingredients, you got your basic stuff like mushrooms, shrimp or chicken, and you squeeze a little slice of lime in it.

Another thing I like bout is that each teapot is an individual serving. It just seems so neat and tidy that the little cup and pot are all that. Here's a recipe, looks alright although I haven't tried making it myself. Saw a selection of them at Takashimaya, made me hungry just by looking at them.

What am I reading on the iPad this week? December's copy of Food Network magazine, too bad they didn't include the special Xmas Drinks booklet that came with the actual magazine. Yah, I know, don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

So what did I do once I'm done with four straight days of writing? Celebrate Friday with an entire day of gaming with the guys. Up there's my character for an Advanced Dungeons and Dragons campaign, below you got Dice Town, Power Grid (Central Europe map) and Chaos in The Old World, all fun games.

Oh, and here's another great way to end a week. My little tub of custard vanilla ice-cream from Hokkaido. It is pretty eggy but that's the way I like it. <^;^>

One Week in Sillypore 7

Oh wow, it's almost the end of the month (and closer to Christmas!) and here's another one week in Sillypore installment. First up, a little update on the last post bout chicken macaroni I had at Tanjong Pagar. Here's the 'dry' version of the last soup version I had.

Yah, I know. That sure don't look like 'dry' to me but that's what they are calling it. The 'gravy' had a very little slight spicy taste to it which I don't think really call for so I think I'll stick to the clear official soup version the next time.

So what else have I been mulching recently? Frog legs! A newfound love. Yes, I know I'm late again. Here we have the S$20 for 3 frogs (with porridge) at Lavender Food Court.

I heard the one at Geylang is pretty good. Anywhere else?

Saturday morning at Tekka Market. On the way there, it looks like Mustafa is opening another shopping wing or rather new shopping mall.

Lots and lots of fresh goodies at the market! Luv getting the seafood here.

You get to see some stuff that you wouldn't expect to see at a wet market. Like little sharkies, you can see greens like rocket leaves too.

More new pirate arsenal for me. Mac connector cables for me so I can watch the new on my TV too. Gawd, so far every week it's at least 12 different shows, the latest episodes and I'm not even counting the movies...

Finally say 'hello' to the newest addition to the household. <^;^> Don't forget to gimme a tick in one of the boxes below or comment!