Cavalock Spends Saturday In The Park

Just like that Chicago song, we spent Saturday in a park in Tokyo. Weather was a little cloudy but nice and chilly. We took the morning train to Daikanyama for breakfast. My love for pancakes started when I was a kid back in the old family home when my late aunt would make me some Bird Eye's pancakes. So the baker-at-home did her research and came up with Ivy Place at Shibuya-ku.

Their classic buttermilk pancakes with maple syrup and fresh fruits were as good as I hoped they would be. Thick and fluffy, I was stuffed when I finished all three. Great ambience, probably the one I loved most for this trip. You got this spacious restaurant in the middle of a lush green setting. A cute little dog park, an amazing book store, bike shop, just to name a few cool outlets around the area. I think if anyone coming to Tokyo should at least spend one morning having breakfast or just strolling through the suburbs here.

Ah, homemade hot apple cider. I can't tell you how long I waited for this. The last time I had real hot apple cider was in New York about 20 years ago. This is soooooo good. Had to savour it a little sip at a time.

This eye-catching Shaun Shibuya exhibition was a photo favourite among everyone at the park. Yah, that be my sneakers and I heard they caught the eye of some locals too. <^:^>

Cavalock and The March Mochi Madness

Oh yah, this is how you kick off a vacation in Tokyo. Yup, time to take a break from my break from the rat race. We were in Tokyo in 2015 and last year saw us in Osaka so this year, the baker-at-home and I figured it's time we headed back to Tokyo for just a short week-long stay.

We touched down at about 5.30pm, reached our hotel in Shinjuku at a little past 7pm. Immediately headed out to an izakaya for dinner and grabbed dessert on our way back. Of cos, we looked for the latest Haagen-Dazs flavours available and we found these two, kinako kuromitsu mochi ice-cream (introduced in 2015 but I missed it back then) and the newer black sesame walnut ice-cream.

You got a layer of mochi resting nicely on top of the ice-cream. Much preferred the sweeter kuromitsu brown sugar. The mochi is just the right sticky texture. Not too  sticky. The black sesame one was alright and the little walnut chunks in it gave it a tasty little crunch but since I had the kuromitsu first, well, brown sugar won hands down.

First time staying at the Hotel Century Southern Tower in Shinjuku instead of our usual Keio Plaza. Nice view from our room on the 24th floor. Damn it, its been less than a week since I got back and already I miss Tokyo.

Cavalock and The Bedok Hawk Watch

Was introduced to another neat new (well, new to me at least) little eating joint Yuki Onna at Far East Square. It's only a hop and a skip away from the baker-at-home's office gig so that's where we headed for dinner last week. Had the truffle beef yakiniku with onsen tamago. Yah, I know there probably ain't no real fancy truffles in there but the whole dish was a very satisfying meal at S$16.90.

There was an article in Monday's copy of The Straits Times about our avian neighbours that got my 83-year-old Dad kinda excited. He was at some of those locations and managed to also snap more than a few pix of the same birds. Anyway, recently he was at Bedok for the first time in ages as word on the streets is there be a young family of crested goshawks next to some HDB blocks. Two babies with their parents. My Dad was told that one of the two babies fell from the tree but someone nursed the little critter back to health. And he came back with these shots, taken over a couple of weeks.

Cavalock and The Catchup Post

Busy or lazy? A little bit of both is probably the reason for the infrequent posts. And there was this local blog article I read a couple weeks ago bout how no one reads blogs any more. Which made me a wee bit hesitant bout posting then I remembered I'm writing this more for myself, to remind myself of the good times than for an audience (real or imaginary) out there. But I still do wonder if anyone reads this blog.

Now I do need to do some writing. Chapters of a short story that I told myself I gotta finish before the end of the month and planting myself with my Macbook at the public library is one way to be productive. Yes, I'm one of those who tend to be easily distracted at home. Of course board gaming is still taking up a huge chunk of my time and I'm loving every minute of it. Was even introduced to three WhatsApp gaming chat groups recently. Maybe I'll do a post on some of the new games I'm into right now.

Anyway the baker-at-home finally brought me to lunch at Ippin Cafe Bar, down Mohamed Sultan Road. I really like this Japanese Restaurant even though we were the only group there for a better part of the afternoon. I'm sure it's way more crowded in the evenings.

I would definitely go for the Ikura don again the next time I'm there. There's so much in this bowl. Same for the grilled oysters. A most satisfying lunch that we had 'walk off' with a short stroll to Meidi-Ya supermarket. 

Sure wasn't expecting this Disney showcase at Meidi-Ya. Lots of Tsum-Tsum products on sale at the supermarket. I don't think you find these particular ones on sale anywhere else. $10 bottle of Calpis Grape anyone?

Cavalock and The Fukubukuro Bag Grab Part Deux

We did it last year so we are doing it again this year and because I could never say 'no' to a bit of gamble or tikam ever since my booster-opening days with Magic: The Gathering. But I digress. It's time for this year's Fukubukuro raid at Isetan. Just like last year, there were lucky bags filled with mystery gifts for sale at Isetan. I got a more detailed explanation of what's it all about in last year's post. When you have almost zero Chinese New Year visitation obligations like me and the baker-at-home, this is what we do. Pros and cons of coming from a very small and intimate family I suppose.

For this year, Isetan listed the contents of their mystery food bag and it was almost the same as what we got last year. I don't know why they did it as it very much took the fun out of it. No more mystery there. Except for a couple of items like the Apple Juice and Japanese beer, we ended up giving away most of last year's stuff, and I think the soap is still somewhere in the drawer. Naturally we didn't wanna go through that again and decided to try our luck with the S$88 household Fukubukuro bag instead. But no, they didn't provide a list here so we had no idea what's inside. So here's our loot.

No complaints here. The Panasonic iron will definitely come in handy right now as ours is on the fritz. The others will be of use eventually, one day, somewhere somehow. 

Cavalock and The Overdue Post New Year Lunch

Always glad to know that there's somewhere for me to chow down on a plate on good and cheap wanton mee. Dropped by the ever popular Foong Kee along Keong Saik Road couple weekends ago and had one of the best wanton mee I had in a long time. Totally enjoyed the char siew and springy noodles. But I reckon the joint is usually too damn crowded on weekdays so I'll probably be back on another weekend.

I have always loved the Simpsons TV series since they first appeared on the Tracy Ullman Show but I'm sure most fans would agree, the last couple of seasons haven't been all that good at all but we soldiered on and I'm to say that last week's episode "Pork and Burns" featuring the return of Spider-Pig from the Simpsons movie was the best in years. Yes, there's a pig involved so it might not be politically correct for all audiences but it's absolutely hilarious. So many spoofs involving Grey's Anatomy and even Whitney Houston. It's so funny I'm still re-watching that last scene again and again on my iPad. And it's driving the baker-at-home crazy.

I'm also finally catching up on the Preacher mini-series, great show and (almost) as violent as the comic book series. But plot-wise it's quite a departure from the comic. Got the chance to watch the infamous lady Ghostbusters too and it wasn't as bad as the reviews made it out to be but the villain was probably the lamest antagonist in movie history ever. Sure glad I didn't have to pay to watch it. It wasn't terrible but not bloody worth the admission ticket IMHO. Oh, and I have yet to watch the last season of American Horror.

Cavalock and The New Year Cake Crave

Cake. It was a bizarre almost insatiable craving for cake, sweet moist cake that nearly drove me nuts over the New Year holiday weekend. I can't explain it or know how it started, well, I suppose looking at online pix of cakes from around the world might have played a role in it. Had some fruits and even a cream puff but they were no substitute for cake.

Well, I finally got my cake on the fourth day of 2017. A nice big slice of Japanese matcha white chocolate cake from Sunday Folks. Well worth the wait. Man, the joint was crazy packed on a workday afternoon. Is school out or something?

Spotted this opening just down the road from the old family home. Looking forward to checking it out. So what was good in 2016? The TV series that surprised me ... in a good way was The Exorcist. Only ten episodes long and although it started off pretty slow, the plot twist midway elevated the show into one of the best horror series out there right now. Especially if you enjoyed the original movie, this is definitely worth taking a look.

Cavalock and The Unexpected Year In Writing

Happy Holidays! 

Another new year coming up and it's another restock of New Year Japanese Beer at Meidi-Ya. Yup, it's the same as last year so I'm betting it's good enough to warrant a restock.

This has been a rather extraordinary year for writing. In February, I was most fortunate to receive not one but two overseas letters of acceptance for one of my short horror stories. Yes, I had to turn down one of the offers. Then in May, I got an email from publisher Marshall Cavendish wanting to do a photo book featuring me Dad's wildlife pictures. And just when I thought that's it for the year, along came a royalty cheque and an email from a different publisher interested in another of my pieces. Extremely grateful for this unexpected turn in my writing endeavours. I can only hope for such opportunities next year.

Cavalock and The Holiday Balls

Another popular stall that's just a hop and a skip away from my tiny apartment that I only recently made into a regular haunt is the aptly named Beef House, along Syed Alwi Road. Just go for the beef tendon balls, they are great balls. Nice and chewy balls. Delicious balls, not unlike these equally delicious famous balls on YouTube. Ah come on, it's the holiday season and you can't go wrong with a classic! Just watch, you'll thank me later.

So earlier this year, I opened my first and only Instagram account ultron8 as a kinda therapeutic exercise where I try to come up with original Lego vignettes by putting together various Lego pieces. Strangely enough, I'm kinda proud of it as I certainly didn't expect to have that many followers so soon. Back when I was in the creative industry, we were expected to come with creative ideas like a dozen a day, it was mentally exhausting. Right now when I do creative stuff on my "own time and target", it's a lot easier and much more rewarding.

Cavalock and The New Old Family Home

Ever since I left the rat race, any subsequent achievements have been more of a personal nature than something work-related. I mean it's no more fancy office projects or work milestones to signify one's life achievements, know what I mean? Instead my accomplishments for the year are extremely minor but more intimate compared to those still working today.

One of the things I'm rather proud of is how the baker-at-home and I finally fixed up my old family home. Transported it from the 1960s to the 21st century! We aren't living there as we got our own little apartment already and yah, if the price is right, who knows? :)

The metal wall ornaments in the above two pictures are or were the backdoor gate and window grills! Our designer/contractor decided to turn them into deco pieces!

Cavalock and The Early Amazon Surprise

While two other famous nasi briyani stalls are trying to literally beat each other up, I'm tucking into my nasi briyani at Block 17 Beach Road. The joint ain't exactly new and they have been there for ages, but I have only recently started patronising the place even though it's like a ten minute walk from my apartment.

Huge serving of really fluffy and fragment basmati rice with nice chunks of moist tender chicken. Expect a queue as early as 11am for lunch and we even saw a guy stuff over a dozen packets of nasi briyani into a large travel luggage, zip it up and roll out with it. I suppose it's that good that you would wanna pack enough for your village back home.

It has been a crazy busy and draining week with few bright spots. One being my Amazon delivery arriving a week earlier than expected. Funny thing is they (the local carrier folks) left it outside my apartment. Apparently this is a common practice. I have heard complaints from friends who were absolutely pissed off to find their precious parcels left for hours outside their homes when they returned home from work. So I was out the entire day and came home to find mine outside door. Fortunately everything was intact. But I was still slightly miffed. No phone call or SMS to inform me of the delivery. Nothing, not a beep. The tracking site said it was due next week. But again, since everything turned out fine why kick up a fuss? I have ordered more than couple times from Amazon and all them times, they arrived on time. Anyone else had such an experience with Amazon?