Cavalock and The Lost Library of Lloyd Manor

Just when I thought I had bade the travel bug farewell, there I found myself in neighboring Johor Bahru (JB) on a weekday morning, a week after I returned from the US. Now the last time I was shopping for groceries in Tijuana JB was about a year ago and it was a rather enjoyable experience. Ever since then I have been thinking bout heading back for a quick day trip and I finally got to do just that but this time by bus. It was pretty easy, just hop on a Singapore-JB Express bus and you'll be at Woodlands in about a half hour. If it's your first time (like us), just follow the crowd and you'll soon find yourself through the checkpoint, then board the same bus that will now take you to the Mexican Malaysian border. Tag along with the rest of the passengers again and you'll soon find yourself in JB!

The nearest mall is City Square which is directly and conveniently connected to the checkpoint so all you gotta do is cross the bridge to get there. Kinda like any other mall here except that almost everything is much cheaper. Anyway, there's a bus terminal located just below the mall with regular buses plying to just about every main shopping and tourist attraction in JB. So we took one to KSL shopping mall to get our groceries from Tesco supermarket. One of the highlights of the day was this fresh coconut stand at KSL. Right in the middle of the mall floor was a stall selling fresh coconuts. Was a one-man stall with just a guy hacking away at coconuts. He would cut it open, pour the juice into a little plastic tub, then scoop the fleshy meat out in a single whole piece for you. All that for just five Ringgit! And when I ordered mine, the man was nice enough to give me a fresh full tub that he just filled instead of the ones that were sitting on the counter. Absolutely refreshing and value for money.

One of the more interesting snacks I found on sale at Tesco supermarket in JB. Doubt if I can find it here and I can't imagine how it tastes like. Wonder if it refers to the spicy flavor or are there actual little fish bits in it?

Now that I'm done travelling, I got a lot of catching up to do in the cleaning-of-the-old-family-home department. I knew my aunts and uncles (mom's side of cos) were fervent readers all my life. Growing up, we were surrounded by books 24/7 and my late uncle had Time, Newsweek and Nat Geo magazines subscriptions too. But never did I expect to find this "scholarly" haul in one of the bedrooms.

"The long decades had silently blanketed the brown boxes in the corner with a thick layer of dust. I peered nervously into each carton before cautiously lifting out the first of many bundled stacks of books. Like ancient Eldritch tomes fished out from the deepest depths of the ocean, one could only imagine the stories and knowledge that each volume possesses. Grinning and muttering to myself, my gibberish behaviour that day was a testament to the dark legacy that the decrepit building conceals."

What you see here is just a fraction of what I uncovered. If you are my Facebook friend, you would probably have seen most of them already. Browsing through the books I really wish I had time to read all of them. I'm looking at books from the 1940s to the 1970s and we got noir, pulp fiction, classics and the trashiest novels I have ever seen in my life! I just can't imagine my late aunts or uncles reading any of them. But what's also amazing to me is the excellent quality of the books as most were still in rather good reading condition. 

While I still have the novels with me, the old cookbooks and interior design hardbacks below were all snapped up the moment I posted them on Facebook. Gave them all away for free. I bet it would be cool to see how the recipes have changed over the years. Like the different kinds of ingredients used yesteryear, cooking techniques or there might even be some lost recipes in there.

Cavalock and The Black Forest Stopover

Oh wow, looks like I managed to churn out 12 posts bout my odyssey to Gen Con Indianapolis and New York without even knowing it. For anyone who actually read them, I sure do appreciate it. All three of you. :)

Well, I guess this is technically still a post bout my US trip but it went down during my SQ stopover at Frankfurt Airport. Only had 20 euros in my pocket and there were a couple of delis in the airport that sold some really lecker-looking German hams, cheeses and sausages. Managed to purchase the above slices of black forest ham and chunk of black forest shoulder ham for exactly the amount of euros with me.

Finished the strips in a matter of days and they were really delicious. Thinly sliced like prosciutto but not too savoury or dry. As for the big guy, we decided to stuff it with cloves, brushed it with pure pineapple juice and then sent it right back into the oven for a short while. Sliced it up and had them for several breakfasts accompanied by some Japanese apple jam from Meidi-Ya. Excellent start to the day. So the next time you are having a stopover at Frankfurt airport, don't forget to grab some really cool German meats that you probably can't find back home.

I suppose that's it for my trip for now at least. Just wanna say I'm really glad I took it despite being worried like crazy just days and hours before boarding my flight. Everything turned out great, people I met were really pleasant although the NYC folks were bit more sullen than the Indy ones, and the only negative experience was when the wheel fell my big-ass Samsonite luggage right after I arrived in Indy. Coming up next, all local stuff and thanks again for dropping by! <^;^>

Cavalock and The Shake Shack Shakedown

This was a no-brainer. Almost everyone I spoke to before our New York trip has insisted, recommended or ordered that I head to Shake Shack and grab one of their famous burgers. Well, we knew there were several Shake Shacks all across the city but we also knew that since we were gonna be flying out of JFK Airport's Terminal 4, there's not one but two outlets at the departure hall.

But we also found time to just drop by their outlet at Madison Square Park. The weather was fantastic that afternoon, sunny and with hardly any clouds in the sky. What I found fascinating was seeing people of all ages sitting outdoors, having picnics or just enjoying a book. I mean, this was like a working weekday but this garden scene was something I would only imagine happening on a weekend cos everyone looked so relaxed and picture-perfect. Really.

Looking at everyone lying on the grass, we began to wonder "what about the ants and bugs, don't they get them here?". Cos if you try doing that back in Singapore, you'll be playing host to half a dozen mosquitos and an ant farm climbing up your leg pants. I guess it's also cos there are no food courts or coffee shops like we are familiar with, where working folks can gather for a cheap good lunch. I reckon in NY, it's a quick eat-and-run routine where you basically grab a burger or salad and head back to your office. So this picturesque park is kinda like an oasis in an urban desert where one can really unwind with friends and just enjoy a lazy afternoon. 

Alright back to Shake Shack, super long line at Madison Square Park. This is like iPhone 6 and Hello Kitty put-together-level kinda queue. Took a panoramic shot and I know the picture ain't big but it starts from one end and ends at the other. Trust me, it's loooong and I'm surprised people were ready to stand in line outdoors in the afternoon sun. I guess them burgers are really that good.

So on our last day, we finally made it to (one of) the Shake Shacks at the JFK Airport Terminal 4. Ordered the Smokeshack, which is a "cheeseburger topped with all-natural applewood smoked bacon, chopped cherry pepper and ShackSauce". I really liked it but I have to admit, I can't remember exactly why! I mean, its been almost a month and I can't remember all the specific reasons except that it tasted really good. Another reason why I can never be a food blogger! I could pretend and come up with a buncha synonyms for 'delicious' but I figured it's better to just be honest. However I do remember how the buns are not completely cut through so it nicely captures all the sauce, and none of it drips outta the burger. Now why can't other burger joints do the same with their buns?!?

Had me the Fly Me To The Shack custard ice cream for dessert. It's "chocolate custard, fudge sauce, chocolate cookie dough and Mast Brothers Shake Shack dark chocolate chunks, topped with chocolate sprinkles". A bit too chocolatey for me but may be great for some chocolate lovers out there.

The Fifty/Fifty drink is simply half lemonade and half organic iced tea which tasted just like very strong lemonade to me.

Cavalock and The New York Korean Food Splurge

Sometimes I do wish I knew someone overseas. When I'm in a faraway city, I thought it would be absolutely smashing if I already knew a friendly local who would show me around. On social media, I see folks I know with friends all around the world and I can imagine how exciting it would be if I'm in a new city, there'll be a familiar face there. Know what I mean? Anyway, in New York we only had one reliable contact to show us around and that's our trusty online friend Mr. Google. Since we were staying in Koreatown, it would be stupid not to try some of the food there and with the beef being good ol' US beef instead of the Aussie meat we have back home, we had to try us some Korean BBQ for sure!

So for dinner Mr. Google directed us to a few popular restaurants along our street, and we hungrily scouted them out before deciding on the one with the most crowd cos everyone knows that means the food must be good, right? And that would be the popular New Wonjo Restaurant right across the road from the our hotel in Midtown West. There was a line leading out the door on the ground floor but we managed to jump it as we were ushered up to the above BBQ floor. Now you know you really blend in with the locals when the restaurant staff start speaking to in their native tongue the moment they see you.

We ordered the Wonju Combo for 2 plus a couple side dishes like that egg pancake thingy. The combo was US$63 and consisted of short rib, sliced beef brisket, sliced ox tongue and pork belly. Gawd, everything was so good especially the ox tongue. An extremely gratifying dinner that I wouldn't mind having again if I'm ever back in the Big Apple.

Presenting the latest obligatory food collage, this time from New York! This may had been a short trip but I'm really glad that I got to savour several proverbial favorites like having breakfast at Dunkin Donuts and enjoying a Smores pie for dessert.

Cavalock and The Long-Awaited Lego Pilgrimage

If you have seen some of my earlier posts, you would know that I have a penchant for checking out overseas supermarkets to see what local specialities they have on their shelves. Spotted these while in a grocery store in New York. Here we have every hipster's favorite veggie, kale! Done four ways and ... er ... kale ain't exactly my thing so I gave a miss but my friend bought them for his colleagues. Sure hope they liked them.

Other items that look extremely enticing but you can't find back home here (yet). Not a big fan of sorbet or frozen yogurt, but I would go for the mint Oreos. It took me a minute to figure out that the bacon doesn't come with the bacon bowl. I looked at it initially and my first thought was "this has got to be REAL bacon, and not that fake turkey stuff you find in Singapore."

Coming to New York, I did have a short checklist of things I wanna do and one of them was to check out the popular official Lego store at Rockefeller Center. I only started seriously collecting Lego about a couple years ago and have been dying to visit a REAL official Lego store. Well, this place was everything I expected it to be. I must have taken over 50 shots of the amazing Lego displays and to showcase them all in a tiny collage here wouldn't do them justice, so bear with me.

One of the cool specialities that an official Lego store has is a Build-Your-Own-Minifigure stand and that's something I was really looking forward to. It wasn't as infinite or limitless as I thought it would be, as there was a fixed selection of different heads, bodies, etc. in there. So you really could only come up with maybe a dozen or so minifigure combinations. But hey, better than nothing!

My loot for the day! Made six different minifigures and bought a couple of Lego sets that if you do find them here, would probably be at least 3x the US price tag. Geez, I really hate local game and hobby stores that blatantly practise profiteering. After seeing how cheap they are in the US, I can't believe shops here are jacking up the prices that much. A US$10 game shouldn't cost around S$30, it's just ridiculous! It really pisses me off when they give the age-old high shop rental excuse for their daylight robbery. Especially the miniatures and boardgame shops, it's like they aren't really into promoting the hobby at all and are simply interested in fleecing their customers. Ok, rant over. ;)