Cavalock and That Traveler's Notebook Update

If you have ever beenin the army or done a reservist stint, there's always a guy in the unit who has to shower at least three or four times a day. Well, I have become that guy, here at home during this pandemic lockdown. The weather's has gotten humid as hell and I'm constantly sweating like a cat in roomful of rocking chairs. 

We are all still in this semi-lockdown here so it's only me and the Baker-at-Home dining out as and when we can. Recently we got to enjoy dinner at Allium. A cosy little restaurant located at way over at Kensington Square. First there and we really liked it. Had the nine-course dinner menu, with sake pairing. My favourite dish has got to go to the Cantonese Steamed Fish. That piece of fish was so damn fresh. The Baker-at-Home's fav was the Braised Rice, she absolutely revelled in the 'wok hay' aroma of the rice even though it was a porridge dish. 

Anyway, I got the Allium menu glued in my Traveler's Notebook. Yah, been awhile since I showed my Traveler's Notebook here. I have been filling up the pages, just not as frequent as I expected cos y'know, worldwide pandemic and stuff. This here page is kinda of what I got so far in the month of October. Had to get new earphones cos I lost me AirPods Pro at the gym. The AirPods were already a little wonky so I asked around for another brand of earphones and a friend recommended this latest pair from Sony. Used me Krisflyer Miles to get them since we sure as hell aren't gonna be redeeming any tickets soon.

Next up is The Red Cathedral, another boardgame I just purchased from Amazon. I have read so many good reviews about this game, I just had to get it. Saw it on Amazon and waited for the price to drop to a low of $49 and immediately grabbed it. 

"Autumn is not the best time to climb up on a scaffold in Moscow, but it is still far better than doing so in the winter. Tsar Ivan wants to see results and our team will prove to him that we are the best builders in the city. We are sure to finish off those decorative arches with the brightest shining stones and ensure our place on the list of the government’s trusted workers.

The Red Cathedral is a strategic, “Euro” board game in which the players take the roles of construction teams. Their job is to work together to put up St. Basil's cathedral in Moscow, as ordered by Ivan the Terrible. However, only one of them will be able to gain the favor of the Tsar.

During the game, the players can carry out one of these three actions: assign a section of the cathedral, send resources to that section to build it, or go to the game board to achieve more resources. Each of these actions has its own mechanism and requires that the players pay close attention to what the other players are doing."

It comes in a relatively small box and as far as modern boardgames go, the rules aren't that difficult. Deciding where to build and when to build is just part of what you'll be doing. You'll also have to figure out which resource to gather, like stone, brick, wood or gold to build your cathedral and in which order, while utilising a cool dice rondel system. And that's where the strategy comes in, that dice rondel is real brain-burner! There's enough tension between every move to make this a really fun game. 

Cavalock and The Izakaya Insight Post

Well, to nobody's surprise, we are back in a mini-lockdown with gatherings limited to two only. I got money riding on the fact we'll have at least a couple lockdown flip-flops before next year's Chinese New Year. Anyway, just before this latest lockdown, me and the guys got together to check out the basement izakaya Dusokoi x Donpachi Sake Bar over at Cuppage Plaza. 

Been here a couple weeks earlier with the Baker-at-Home, and we absolutely enjoyed the food, the place as the deco and menu reminded us of our trips to Japan, our little (not-so) late night jaunts to izakayas around Shinjuku. I thought this place would be kinda cool to bring the guys to to commemorate our 2019 September trip to Tokyo. She especially liked their selection of umeshu. They got an impressive menu of izakaya food like grilled squids, all kinds of tempura as well as sashimi.

As expected, good food and good company, it's something we all need right now. All five of us had our fill of oden, tempura, oysters, monkfish liver (is this the first time I'm having it?), some pork guts stew and Japanese style bak tuh teh. And this is also one of those rare times when we guys enjoyed a bottle of sake, usually it's beer, whisky or high ball for us when we are a Japanese restaurant.

So like most folks here, the Baker-at-Home and me are just riding out this latest lockdown at home. She works from home so there's that. I haven't been to the gym in a week cos I was busy taking care of me Dad. He hasn't gone out to take any wildlife pix for obvious reasons. I wish I could say that we weren't affected by all these lockdowns, travel restrictions and so on but it has started to take its toll on us. When me and the guys were having dinner at the izakaya that evening, we couldn't help but reminisce  bout our Tokyo trip. Same with the Baker-at-Home and me. Right now, at this time of the year, the two of us would usually be in Tokyo and soaking in the Halloween mood there. 

I have some words and some thoughts on how the local authorities have handled the whole Covid situation here. But I know better than to say anything online. Suffice to say, they really dropped the ball with how they fumbled everything from communications to the masses to the obvious lack of foresight in many instances. 

Oh, in other news, I got to paint these nice guys, Death Guard Marines. Only two more to go.

Cavalock and That Award-Winning Boardgame

Last week's lunch at Far East Plaza with a gaming buddy means a chance to finally drop by Mr. Holmes Bakehouse across the road to sample their popular pastries. Bought the mint chocolate cruffin and the lemon meringue pie croissant back for afternoon tea with the Baker-at-Home. No complaints bout the golden flacky puff pastry but the fillings were pretty overwhelming and ... a lot. Lots of filling came oozing out. A little too much for us but your milage may vary. The Baker-at-Home said the mint filing in the cruffin reminded her of her toothpaste. Hah!

Took awhile but I got me the boardgame MicroMacro Crime City at last, a multi-award winning boardgame from Germany. It swept a buncha awards this year and last for being an original co-operative game. If you are familiar with Where's Waldo (or Wally), this is almost like that where you squint your eyes and search through a glorious irrelevant artscape but instead of Waldo, you looking for dead bodies, solving their murders, solving robberies, catching killers and you get it why's it's called Crime City. There are only 16 cases in the box and once you solve them, that's it. 

You can play it solo as in by yourself or co-operatively with others, up to three others but really, you would want to keep it to as few as possible. Most reviewers suggest just one other or two other players cos it's kinda hard to share the map even though it's that huge. I'm playing it solo and loving every minute of it, and I can't imagine sharing the game or map with another person cos you tend to hog it as you are pouring over every little speck of evidence. 

You can read more bout the game here.

Last but definitely not least, it's this year's Washpole Patriot. Took a snapshot yesterday. I guess it's better late than never. 

Cavalock and The Missing Washpole Patriot?

Well, the lockdown kinda just ended and us vaccinated folks are allowed to eat out again. But the Baker-at-Home and I have yet to make any reservations ... yet. We did order takeaway from Two Men Bagel last week and that was glorious. juicy meaty bagel sandwich while stuck at home was just what we needed. I think even without a lockdown, we do see ourselves ordering more takeaways now. It's like we are conditioned to after over a year of doing takeaways, know what I mean? Too lazy and tired in an ever escalating climate changing environment to want to venture outdoors. Hah!

As for my hobbies, I'm still doing my painting and have just completed over a dozen Stormcast Eternals miniatures over the last couple weeks. And they didn't turn out half bad, if I do say so myself. 

I'm also dipping my into solo historical wargaming with some free print-and-play games. Most of these are small, simple war games that are available online and can be played solo. They come free with rules and PDFs where you are supposed to cut out and do little DIY with maps, cards etc. You would need to come up with some dice and counters or colored markers too. Right now, I'm reading bout the Battle at Kettle Hill (not to be confused with the Battle at Kettle Creek) during the Spanish-American War of 1898. Maybe I'll try to post something bout it in my next post if I can get a play in by then. 

Alright, so if anyone remembers reading my blog during this time of the year, meaning around our National Day, you would recall the my annual Washpole Patriot post. Last year, the year before, back in 2018, then in 2017, well you get the idea, all the way to 2006. But this year, as of right now, I'm not taking a pix even though the Washpole Patriot is up and hanging. Cos there's a wake down at the void deck just below the Washpole and I'm not exactly comfortable taking any pix of that now.

Cavalock and Olive Oyl Oil Overdue

Fingers crossed, still another week to go for our mini-lockdown. I gotta admit, I haven't been as productive as I was during the last major lockdown bout a year ago. No more gym and no home workouts either. I did managed to get some painting done and the two visitors per home rule meant I got to play some tabletop games with the guys. 

But the Baker-at-Home was certainly busy in the kitchen. From top to bottom, she made some Takikomi Gohan with Kinmedai, that was amazing. Some homemade Japanese red bean paste, no preservatives and not as sweet as the ones you find in the stores. And that there beef don is still one of the best I have ever had. Well, we did our fair share of takeaway meals too and me trekking to army market hawker centre was an almost daily lunchtime affair.

Was at the usual Japanese grocery stores couple weeks ago and spotted these interesting items. New Japanese beer and ... wait for it... Olive Oyl's Olive Oil! I can't believe it took them that long come up with this! Popeye's girlfriend was created more than 100 years ago in 1919 and NOW then someone in Japan decided to make olive oil out of it?!? 

Cavalock and The Phase Two Deux: The Sequel

Whew! Just got back from a lockdown toilet paper run! Nah, just kidding. But it is time again for a (semi)-lockdown as we return to Phase Two. This time we all kinda got a little practice on what to do and expect as we hunker down for another 3 weeks. Well for starters, my gym will be closed so I reckon that'll free up some of my mornings. Three times a week at the gym, that's the minimum the doc recommended after my last medical. Plus I always try to grab a 'healthy' lunch at either Daily Cut or Kepos at Raffles Place after a session. I guess it's back to char kway teow! Hah! 

I guess one thing to look forward out at Phase 2 Deux is more home-cooked meals. The Baker-at-Home has perfected these amazing potato and beef croquettes. They are kinda like the ones that we had in Japan. And she also made some soba to go with it. The fresh leafy veggies that our friend gifted us are from a local farm. They are from Backyard Fresh and they came hand-delivered in a nice big box, like one them cake boxes.

Now if you are gonna be stuck and don't what to do, I strongly recommend the TV series Resident Alien. I believe it's on the Syfy channel or if you are ...er... resourceful enough, you could find it online. There are only ten episodes in the first season and the second season has already been given the green light, so you know it's good! About a less-than-friendly alien who crash-landed on Earth and has to disguise as a small town doctor. It's suspense, comedy and murder mystery all rolled into one, starring the talented Alan Tudyk who is no stranger to sci-fi roles. Remember this song when you watch the season finale, that scene is hilarious! 

Cavalock and That Overdue Easter Post

Last Easter weekend was pretty exhausting but in a good way. While the Baker-at-Home made some slightly boozy hot-crossed buns with fruits soaked in rum, me and the guys made our way hiking from Kent Ridge Park to Labardor Park to Vivo City. Started at 7.30am and finished in time for an early lunch at Shake Shack. The rest of the guys have all made the trek before but it was me first time through that neck of the woods and it was quite a sight. Some really cool views like the Keppal jetty. I never knew there was a horticulture park or HortPark right up there, complete with chili plants and other veggies. Weather was hot and humid even for that time of the morning. We didn't run or jog, it was a pretty quick walk and no strolling allowed.

Current favourite boardgame is Hallertau, a slightly more complex game where each player manages a small Bavarian village in the Hallertau. The Hallertau in Bavaria, Germany is the largest continuous hop-producing region in the world and it prides itself upon being the first in Middle Europe to cultivate hops. Your objective is to increase its wealth and prestige by supplying the local crafts folk with goods from agriculture and sheep breeding. 

There's a quite a lot to manage in this game. Most of the decisions you make will be where to send your workers during your turn. What do you want to do? Plant different crops or breed sheep or buy tools? There are about 20 such choices waiting for you. You will also get to draw cards that will give more resources at a cost and even affect the decisions you make. I know it sounds cliche but it's one of those 'easy to learn, hard to master' kinda game. By gaining specific resources like barley, milk, wool or hops, you get to move your community centre and score points. The trick is in managing all your resources, knowing how and when to get those resources. 

It's a really amazing game and one I would recommend to anyone looking for a good boardgame challenge.

Cavalock and The Midweek Artichoke Accomplishment

Yes, we are late to the party and quite possibly the last couple of folks on the island to ever eat a whole artichoke but that's what we finally got to savour at Miznon couple days ago. If you like garlic like I do, you'll like scraping each and every artichoke leaf especially its centre heart. The Baker-at-Home absolutely loved it and finished most of it as I struggled with my massive but satisfying chicken liver pita. Yes, I had me some pastry before heading to Miznon so was a little full when I took me first pita bite. 

Spring cleaning earlier in the week found me some overseas treasures that I had all but forgotten. Check out these cute Snoopy iron-ons I picked up in Tokyo years ago. Hmmm, I don't know I'll ever use them now but they so cute. Gawd knows I'm a huge Snoopy fan since I was a kid.

And just this week, I spotted these on sale over at our local Tokyu Hands. I really had to pry myself away from this new Snoopy and gang display. 

Been way too long since I painted something. Gonna start with the huge Loonshire and it's as big as the giant I painted at the end of last year. When I played the Loonshire in the game, it lets me return my creatures even after they have been killed by my opponent. The challenging part of such a project is always deciding on the colours to use. After all, we are looking at a fantasy genre here, so there is no real rule on how to colour something. Just try to go for something you looks good and that you like. That's kinda the fun of painting for me. End of the day (or week, or month) you get something utterly unique. Definitely looking forward to it. 

Cavalock and That Other Underrated Top Gun Song

Been a couple years since I dropped by Red Eye Smokehouse even though it's only a short walk from our tiny little apartment. Don't ask me why, we just never did until now. The pulled pork was a good choice. It was just a wee bit too dry for my liking but not necessary a problem. Great buttery mashed potatoes that came with a generous tub of gravy. Good to see that they are still around and I really should drop by again soon.

This last couple of weeks have been like that Kenny Loggins song from Top Gun "Playing with the Boys". We got to ride in kinda like a speeding bombard boat for bout half hour, from Keppal Bay to around the Marina Coast, then Sentosa passing St. John's Island and back. Absolutely exhilarating, especially with music blasting from the rear of the boat. I believe we got up to bout 20 knots? The boat skipped and sped over the waves plus it was especially choppy that afternoon too. 

So how do you top that? By spending a memorable afternoon at the Star Wars Identities Exhibition over at the ArtScience Museum with the guys. Really cool display of movie props including storyboards and interactive stations. Its got everything for a Star Wars fan ...... except an X-Wing. Why isn't there an X-Wing model on display? After the Millennium Falcon, it's the most iconic ship in the movies. All the other ships were there, just not an X-Wing. Really?!?