Cavalock and The Bird Nest Buildup

Been helping my 79-year-old Dad download and file his hundreds of wildlife pix this last week. Seems like he's no longer stalking eagles found much smaller birds to aim his camera at. Lots of really interesting shots of birds and their nests. Like I always said, there are all kinds of cool wildlife all over the island like this sunbird building a new home in Bukit Panjang.

According to my Dad, there were two sunbirds but most of his shots were only of one bird in action doing all the building. Here you can see the nest slowly coming together and I believe it took bout 4 days to put it together. The nest was already halfway built when these were taken. There are dozens of shots and I felt these are the better ones.

And still on my writing therapy sessions, here's the prologue to another story. Thought it might be interesting or challenging to set this one here in my own backyard and yes, it's also a wee bit Lovecraftian.

Prologue

It was almost noon as I leaned across the starboard side; peering down at the docks I can clearly see the rest of the passengers slowly boarding the merchant ship. “My God, they … they seemed so calm, so innocent, so oblivious to the truth that this island is already doomed,” I muttered over and over. Ever as I’m leaving Singapore now in board daylight, I don’t feel safe and I know I’ll never feel safe again.

I wanted to warn someone, anyone but no sane person could ever comprehend what I have seen this last week. I thought I have witnessed horror in all its most atrocious forms during those last dark days in Berlin back in 1945 but this was something not from this world. This was an ancient unspeakable terror that has somehow found its way back to our world.

Cavalock and The Writing Therapy Tryout

Some days I really wish I got more stuff to write about. Last week was alright I guess, I mean if you are a caretaker like me and a quiet week is usually a good sign. Well, I did had the pleasure of savoring a truly divine homemade matcha swiss roll by a local food blogger. And the Duck L'orange in sous vide for dinner was fantastic too, I believe that was my first sous vide dish that I know of anyway.

Another trip to supermarket Meidi-ya means another look at some more new goodies on their shelves. A couple of interesting sweet potato and marron or chestnut spreads from Japan. They ought to be good on crackers or bread. And check out that new award-winning rosemary honey ale from Spain. It reads winter honey ale style, made of barley malt, rosemary and rosemary honey, hops and yeast. That just sounds so damn sweet.

So one of the things I'm doing right now is some self-imposed writing therapy. It sorta helps me take my mind off my caregiving duties and also kinda restores my sanity ... in a small way, at least I hope it does. Been plotting and writing a bunch of stuff over the last couple months but none of them are complete yet. Here you got something I managed to put together the first part of something for young readers. It's just an unedited first draft right now (yah I know it definitely needs a lot more work and polishing up) and three chapters are up here on wattpad. I do have an ending and will post that in the near future if anyone's interested. Be gentle now. <^;^>

Here's an excerpt

"A soft yellow glow appeared at the far end of the room. It grew larger until it almost occupied half of the opposite wall, bathing most of the statues in an unnerving radiance. As her vision gradually cleared, she saw the outlines of two robed figures stalking from the glow towards her. They made a silent waving gesture with their hands and there came another howl from the ceiling but this time it sounded right directly overhead Mills.

Intuitively she turned towards the inhuman sound again. The entire hall was now brightly illuminated but as she looked up, Mills wished that she was back in the dark. A cascade of long wet tentacles dropped from a whirling void that had suddenly appeared above her.  Cold freezing air poured down and this time her scream was loud as it echoed down the hall. An icy green tentacle lashed down and coiled itself around her outstretched right arm. She struggled to pull her arm to her chest but the tentacle was too strong as it lifted her up towards the void."

Cavalock and The Game of Thrones Savour Team-Up

It's the second annual Savour food fest and just like last year, I was there on a Friday afternoon. But unlike the previous year, my Gourmet Village dining tickets were for the evening slot instead of the afternoon one. So now we can hang out in the air-conditioned Gourmet Market for at least a few hours.

But first a big shout-out to HBO and the upcoming season 3 of Game of Thrones starting this April 20, Saturday night 9pm. They did a great promo that included a cooking demo of food from the show. Yaaaah, right. Anyway, we had some lamb and lemon cookies cos that's apparently what they had in Westeros. Hey, I was reading the books over a decade ago before the series came out. Check out this t-shirt I got last year. But hey, it's a great show (even better if it's uncensored) so go watch it.

Was at a tea-pastry pairing workshop too. Found out that I really suck at food pairing. Three things are supposed to happen to the flavors when you pair food. Like does it intensify, cancel or blend the flavors. Since we got there a little late, we could only observe the class and not sample any of the pastries.

So what else did I have at Savour this year? Good ol' beef. Lotsa good beefy dishes if you are into it. Below is my fav from Stellar@1 Altitude. Nicely done and tender, I enjoyed every bite.

But my first bite for the day was actually these couple slices of pie (lime vodka and choc caramel below) from Windowsill Pies at the Gourmet Market earlier that afternoon. Followed a short while later by an Earl Grey ice-cream cookie sandwich. Much better than I thought it would be.

So at exactly 5pm, we descended upon the Gourmet Village. First stall on the hit list was UK's Wild Honey. That's their squid and mackerel burger below which was alright although I really couldn't really taste any squid in it. Their slow cooked beef cottage pie and hot smoked potato may not look like much but we liked it a lot. There's something to be said when a piece of beef is cooked perfectly the way you like it to be.

Hong Kong's famous Bo Innovation was an interesting experience. The molecular xiao long bao (in the black spoons) exploded in my mouth. Didn't expect it as the familiar taste of your typical xiao long bao just filled up my mouth, a little overwhelming but I thought it was pretty neat in a fireworks-in-your-mouth kinda way. Next to it is the cha chan tang, that's actually butter toast ice cream, condensed milk foam, peanut butter and apricot ice, kaya marshmallow, 'ying yang' hot milk tea and cold coffee. *Whew*

Also had some of these. A traditional Peruvian seafood appetizer of shrimps, scallops and octopus from Peru's Astrid Y Gaston. And from UK's Pollen Street Social that's a slow cooked Angus ox cheek braised in Burgundy, horseradish and potato puree, roasted carrots and bone marrow crumb. Put everything I had together and it's like you got a freakin' amazing dinner from around the world!

We bought a ton of groceries as well like cheese, chips and over S$100 worth of Nespresso capsules cos they got the two new limited edition flavors Trieste (intensity 9) and Napoli (intensity 11). Had a Trieste this morning and I must say it's way better than any of the other new flavors that they came out with recently. And there's even a free Nespresso fan!

Cavalock and The Politically Correct Minefield

So how crazy would one expect something called Jane's Krazy Mixed-Up Salt to be? Well, you can find out if you buy a shaker of it at Meidi-Ya supermarket. Saw it and was almost tempted to get it just cos of the name until I realized it costs over S$12 for one. But seriously, looking at the ingredients I think it would make a pretty interesting seasoning.

Something over the last couple days got me thinking bout political correctness and stuff. It seems like these days you can't make any negative comment (especially online) without being branded a sexist, racist, xenophobe and so on if you happen to mention any specific details of the individuals involved.

For example, recently there's a group of teenagers in my neighborhood who would go around asking for money from strangers, like they'll walk up to you can say, "Do you have two dollars to give me?" Now if I were to rant bout it online and mention their race, would it be misconstrued as a racist comment? Am I talking down to a particular race cos I'm pointing that out?

Or how about if I spot, snap a pix and highlight on social media some anti-social behavior by a foreign worker/expat, would that make me a xenophobe? I think it would cos I have seen it happen to people online. I have mentioned before that having been raised by women, I honestly believe that most women are way stronger and braver than men. They really are the stronger sex as far as I'm concerned. But the moment I complement a woman's looks like Obama did and I'm now a sexist cos I wasn't thinking about how intelligent she is? Never ever mention a person's looks?

So really, how does one maneuver around this politically correct minefield? All right, rant over.

Cavalock and The Latte Art Tooth Fairy

Look what I found! A new coffee joint that does latte art requests! It's a nice little place in the hippest part of town and not many people have heard of it yet. So I asked the barista to do one that looks like a tooth. Ain't that something? I think it looks great, like a real big white tooth!

Just kidding! Alight, it was my really first attempt at latte art back at home a few weeks ago. Yup, it was exactly my intention to do it in the shape of a molar tooth. Oh yeah, that was the plan all along. It's not like I was trying to do something else and it turned out to look like a tooth. I bet I'll be a big hit at dentists' conventions.

Hey! It's almost that time of the year again where the local food fest known as Savour will take over the F1 Pit Building this weekend. If you think it's another blatant attempt by me to become a food blogger, then you are right! I was there last year and well, that little write-up apparently wasn't enough to qualify me to be a food blogger. So here's hoping that if I do make it to this year's event, I'll be able to whip something up that'll finally elevate me to the illustrious ranks of our local food bloggers.

Nah, I'm just yanking yer chain again. I write, blog, rant whatever makes me happy. I just find it extremely amusing how some food blogs actually become meal tickets for their owners. Anyway, so who's going?

Cavalock and The Bukkake Experience

I did thought of opening this post with an April Fool's joke but I think telling the truth in this case would be a bigger eye-opener. Yup, I had my first bukkake experience for real. Bukkake udon, to be exact. And if you don't know what 'bukkake' means in Japanese or rather Japanese porn, Wiki it and nope, I ain't providing the link here. (Plus if you read my last post on how collagen helps keeps your skin smooth, then you'll just being sick if you think there's a connection!)

Anyway it's at Tamoya, the new udon restaurant tucked away at the back of Liang Court ground floor. It's got a different concept too. A self-service set-up not unlike the ol' army days cookhouse or today's Ikea cafeteria where you move your tray down the line, collect your udon, pick your tempura and pay your bill.

As you can see from the menu, there are several kinds of udon to choose from. I picked the regular bukkake udon for S$4.80. I like the texture and the soup or broth. Only regret was how small the portion was. Great for kids but I'm going for the large bowl next time and maybe the pork bukkake too. It's about the average price for a Japanese meal. All that you see above with the 4 sticks of tempura is S$12.30. If you like Japanese food, it's definitely worth a try.

After that, look what I found at Meidi-ya supermarket down in the basement. At S$7.20, it's the most expensive 250ml can of Japanese beer on the shelves. I kinda like the Harley Quinn design.

Thought I'll share something I remembered sometime back. There's been a whole lotta debate bout foreigners coming here recently. About three or four years ago, I met one of them, a really nice professional lady who works in a bank. She told us how she got her PR status (not long after she met us) and part of it included her telling the local interviewers how much she loves kids and can't wait to have lots of them right here. Although she assured us that she had absolutely no intention of having any kids at all. She only said that cos she knows how desperate we are with wanting more babies here.

Of cos back then when she told us, everyone at the table had a good laugh, and I'll sure there were a ton of other factors that got her in but I bet the promise to breed for our nation played a major part in the decision making.

So what's my take today? I think our country's decision making process is in need of a major overhaul. But who knows, maybe she did decide to have kids now and everything worked out great. I guess I know better then to write something online that's gonna come back and bite me in the ass.

Cavalock and The Chicken Collagen Part Deux

I swear it wasn't intentional but once again, I found myself facing a bowl of chicken collagen for dinner. Well, this was actually a bowl of chicken broth ramen from Ramen Keisuke Tori King. Really, what's not to like about this? It's like having your dinner and facial at the same time!

So this Tori King outlet at Amara Hotel specializes in chicken based ramen while the other one at Orchid Hotel is all bout pork ramen. Had the Tori King Ramen with egg as I had forgotten that they actually provided free eggs at the table but they are the hard-boiled variety. Now the chicken leg was really nice and tender, comes off easily when you scrape it with your chopsticks. The broth tasty. You even get to choose the texture of your ramen, like how chewy you want it to be. And at S$13.90, a much cheaper collagen fix than at Plaza Singapura.

Here's the little basket of free eggs at the table. There's even a sign that says the brown ones contain less cholesterol than the white ones. Really? Speaking of cholesterol level, mine's 187mg and the guy took it said that's normal. Anything below 200mg is normal, according to him. So why am I saying it there? Nah it's just cos I wanna remember it. :P

If you know me, you'll know how much I enjoy playing boardgames. And this coming Saturday is the first International Tabletop (boardgaming) Day. Don't fret yourself if you have never heard of it. It's a purely commercial event not unlike Valentine's Day, dreamt up by fellow gaming geeks in the US.  Here's a pretty neat article from L.A. Times bout the event.

So here are just some of my favorite games that I own. I have lotsa other favorite boardgames but they belong to the rest of my boardgame group. Those games above are the ones I have and if anyone wants a game with me, I'll usually bring one of them along. They are very easy to play with simple rules.

From top, you got the classic Citadels.
Players take on new roles each round to represent characters they hire in order to help them acquire gold and erect buildings. Each character has a special ability, and the usefulness of any character depends upon your situation, and that of your opponents. The characters then carry out their actions in numerical order: the assassin eliminating another character for the round, the thief stealing all gold from another character, the wizard swapping building cards with another player, the warlord optionally destroys a building in play, and so on. The game ends at the close of a round in which a player erects her eighth building and the player with the highest score wins. 

Why I like it? The different roles let you screw with the players and there's nothing more fun than screwing your opponents. Plus it's one of the very few games I have that can play up to 7 players.

Elder Sign.
A fast-paced, cooperative dice game of supernatural intrigue set in 1920s for one to eight players. Players take the roles of investigators racing against time to stave off the imminent return of the Ancient One. Armed with tools, allies, and occult knowledge, investigators must put their sanity and stamina to the test as they adventure to locate Elder Signs, the eldritch symbols used to seal away the Ancient Ones and win the game.

Why I like it? I can play solo! It's after all a co-operative game and my group doesn't like that kinda game (we like beating the hell out of each other). Best of all, it's based on the stories by one of my favorite horror writers, H.P. Lovecraft.

Winner's Circle.
A lively game of horse racing where players bet on several of seven horses to try to gain the most money by the end of the game. Players bet on the horses before each race and so either co-operate or compete to get their horses over the line.  

Why I like it? Lotsa bluffing and screaming whenever we play this game. Just gets crazier every time we play it. This game has been out of print for years and I was really lucky to have found a mint copy for almost half the price earlier this month.

Garden Dice.
A strategy game that combines dice rolling, tile laying, and set collection. The game board depicts a garden as a 6x6 grid in which seed and vegetable tiles are placed using dice rolls as coordinates. Players take turns using the dice to plant, water, and harvest five different types of vegetables with differing point values, from the lowly squash to the mighty eggplant. The game's chaining mechanism allows players to water or harvest multiple tiles using a single action, enabling players to build upon each others' chains. Players can also use bird and rabbit tiles to eat other players' seed and veggie tiles, but not without paying a small penalty. Two other special tiles – the sundial and the scarecrow – allow players to modify dice rolls or protect their own tiles.

Why I like it? Fun theme and with some really attractive artwork. And lotsa dice to roll, tiles to place and sets to collect, it's three great gaming mechanics in one game.

Lifeboats.
Pure negotiation game that puts a different spin on the typical ocean catastrophe. There's been a boating accident, and a rag-tag group of six lifeboats is trying to make its way to one of several islands just over the horizon. However only one boat will make any forward progress in a given turn, so players try to convince everyone to vote for his particular favorite. To further complicate matters, the sailors can't seem to decide which boat they want to be in, so they're constantly jumping out of boats to swim to another one. As if all that wasn't enough, one of the boats springs a leak each turn. If the boat is at maximum occupancy when the leak occurs, then players vote to decide who to toss to the sharks.

Why I like it? No luck involved here. Just pure begging, threatening, yelling and backstabbing. Plenty of broken promises by the end of the night.

Cavalock and The All-Collage Bird and Food Post

So I finally went for my first Restaurant Week event. I didn't make any plans for it and it was an invite from a local food blogger. I thought it was a good idea to take a break from my caregiving duties and so there I was at CHIJimes' Tatsu Sushi for the first time!

I thought it was pretty good deal for only S$35. You had a choice between a teppanyaki set or the sushi set and of cos I picked the sushi set! ;) No regrets there. The little joint wasn't that crowded and I think it's the western restaurants that are usually packed for Restaurant Week. I never really paid much attention to Restaurant Week cos I figured the meals are still quite expensive despite whatever discounts they offered. I'll definitely keep an eye out next year.

Well, as you can see, I'm trying out another FREE collage generator (Collagelt Free for Mac). Some more new bird pix from my 79-year-old Dad. He's getting older and gets tired more easily now when carrying all his heavy camera equipment around. These birds are out in the wild and not from the Bird Park or Zoo. Maybe one day I'll find a proper way to showcase more of his photos.

Cavalock and The Return to The Mummy Museum

While rampaging through the old family home kitchen I found these little baking nuggets! These traditional 'kueh' cutters have been in the family for at least 50 years I think. Not sure if you can still find these shapes or designs in shops today, I suppose the heart-shaped one is quite common. They still look pretty much as good as new except for some tarnishing.

I also finally decided to bring these old made-in-UK tea cups and saucers back to my current home. Figured it's about time I had a proper tea set and no, I have not been watching Downton Abbey. I remember seeing the brown tea set since I was a kid so that's gotta be pretty old. Back then my family was rather serious bout tea breaks. I would have to stop whatever I was doing (reading comics, playing, napping, reading comics, watching TV, listening to the radio, reading comics) and have my biscuits, curry buns or chicken (yes, chicken or drumstick to be exact) at about 3pm almost everyday. I wouldn't drink tea since I was still little so it was usually milk or water, maybe Ribena. So can anyone recommend a good tea flavor? Thanks in advance!

And speaking of old stuff, here's a bit of good news and bad news of the archaeological sorts this week. Good news is the announcement that locals will get to enjoy yearlong free entry to all pubic museums in the country from May 18th. Bad news is the upcoming Mummies exhibition from the British Museum at the Marina Bay Sands ArtScience Museum ain't part of the free ride.

But odds are, I'll still pay to go see it even though I have already seen them while I was in London hence all these pix I took. According to the press release, there'll be more than 100 artifacts and six mummies which usually means just a little more than 100 artifacts if we are lucky. That's a mere fraction of I saw for FREE in London! The ticket price here had better be reasonable.

Now the public library copy of Tutankhamen's Curse that I got was such a great read that I have ordered my own hardcover copy from The Book Depository. For a book with the word 'Curse' in the title, there's hardly any mention of the infamous curse until halfway through the book. The non-fiction book traces the life and afterlife of the famous boy king, tons of information about the dig itself including the life of Howard Carter, the archaeologist who discovered the tomb.

The hardcover book is just filled with so many interesting facts about the mummies, Ancient Egypt as well as life during early 20th century and how it got all wrapped up in the mummy craze. It's so easy to read and not heavy at all. Turning every page is like unwrapping a mummy bandage by bandage. It's such a great learning experience. I sooooo recommend this book for anyone who has even the slightest interest in Ancient Egypt or mummies.

Geez, after writing all that I realized two things. First is that I'm extremely blessed to have seen the Egyptian exhibit at the British Museum and secondly, all these pix I took make great promo for the coming exhibit!

Hey, if you like anything on this page, please leave a tick in any of the little boxes below! Or better yet, leave a comment. Thanks! <^;^>

Cavalock and The Smokin' Bus Incident

Winter is ... opps, I mean Easter is coming. So naturally there's gotta be some Easter goodies coming outta mah little ol' kitchen. Check out these chocolate with vanilla buttercream cupcakes! Made (not by me!) and given out for free too!

Once again, I had absolutely nothing to do with them except take a couple of shots of the cupcakes. I remember decades ago, as a kid bout six years old, my Dad would bring me to the kids' Easter Party at Mandarin Hotel in Orchard (it happened more than one Easter I think). I still have some vague memories of it. Got some goodie bags, painted Easter eggs, lotsa other screaming kids in a hotel ballroom, and some guy in a giant pink bunny suit. And yah, I kinda freaked out at all that and wailed my way home. So anyone else had any Easter nightmares as a kid?

Now just when you thought our public transport couldn't get any worse! Here's something that happened a few hours ago. Me and the guys were on our way to supper after our regular boardgame session. Our car stopped behind this bus at the traffic light junction opposite the Central Library. Naturally with four guys (and two lightsabers in the back seat. Really) in the car, we were trash-talking our guts out. That is until we noticed smoke emitting outta the backside of the bus right in front of us, then BANG! Alright, maybe it wasn't that loud but we did hear a 'bang!'. I was riding shotgun and did what came naturally. I ducked under my seat while whipping out my iPhone, raising it above my head, closed my eyes and started snapping like crazy. Yup, I took those pix and not someone else as some might claim online. Seconds later, passengers started alighting and strange thing was that the cops showed up almost immediately. No one's that fast so were they already following the bus or do you believe in coincidence?

So later while we were all having supper at the food court, we talked bout how close me and the driver were to getting our brains blown out if the back of the bus really exploded with flames and all. The shrapnel would have crashed through the windscreen and killed us in the front seats. We cracked lotsa gamer jokes like how we made our +2 saving rolls. Life is short cos you never can tell if the bus you are in is gonna go up in smoke. Like I said, years ago live fast, love hard and die with your mask on. ;)

4D UPDATE! Not surprisingly one of the guys (it wasn't me!) played the bus number 960, there's also the license plate with a partial 40. Well, the winning first prize 4D number on Wednesday was 5609. Not really that close but I'm sure there's a 5 in the license plate somewhere... ;)