Cavalock and The East West Cockle Connection

Being not gainfully employed does have certain benefits, like having the time to travel to opposite ends of the island for food.

Finally made it to the popular Pasir Panjang Food Centre for the very first time. Went with the guys for dinner on a Tuesday evening. Unfortunately the roads leading the place and surrounding area were all under construction or major road renovations, so there's this huge barrier blocking it from the main road. That would explain why only half the stalls were open when we were there. Seems like biz is pretty slow cos of all the works around the place.

Anyway, it was a guy's nite out, all 10 of us. The place is laid out like Newton Circus, food stalls along the perimeter and seats in the middle of the circle. We had all the usual suspects, satay, chicken wings, stingray etc. The pix above is the only shot of the night, after that my fingers were in no condition to touch my iPhone. :P

Eating the 'sea hum' (cockles) was fun. Like the part where my friend opened a foul smelling one and he went, "Orrrgh, this is bad. Here, smell it." and we all eagerly took a sniff as he passed it around!

Another friend who works with kids told us how he got a letter from a parent who wants to know how to stop his kid from playing online games till two in the morning. The friend thought to himself, "Man, 2am is nothing! Back then, we played till four in the morning!"

So that was my little western adventure, back to the east! Was at the famous 328 Katong Laksa after like two years. Still as yummy as ever and just the right spice level for me.

And yes, there's them cockles again. After lunch was somewhere and something new for dessert.

Yup, that's the Awfully Chocolate at 131 East Coast Road. Stumbled upon it totally by accident. I think I mentioned before that I'm not a big dark choc fan, more of a white choc lover.

Presenting the white choc butterscotch block, quite possibly the best white choc cake around. Incredibly moist, smooth and just the right amount of dark choc for someone like me.

The super stacked cake had a gazillion choc flavors in there, I forgot. I just OD on the dark choc right there. Plus the choc ice cream that came with it, I think that's all the choc I can take till Xmas. But hey, if you are a serious choc lover, go for it.

And the whole deal ain't cheap either, S$21.35 for all you see there. Now the strange thing is they don't serve coffee or tea there although you do get free plain water. You can go buy your hot drinks at the kopi tiam across the road and bring it in.

Cavalock and The iPad Screen Switcharoo

It's been almost a week since I got my iPad and it's everything I dreamt it would be. I'll gush bout it in another post. Meanwhile I been reading up on the iPad in the local forums. Seems like at least one shop at our infamous Sim Lim Square is known to be pulling this little iPad scam.

Here's how it works. Most of the time when someone buys an iPad, they'll head to Sim Lim Square for accessories like screen protectors and cases. The scam involves the iPad screen protectors.

After paying for your iPad screen protector, the shop would usually offer to immediately apply it to your iPad for free, on-the-spot. Once that's done, the shop will then 'throw' out the empty wrappers, packaging etc. and you'll leave the place thinking everything is fine.

What you don't know is that the shop would be keeping the empty packaging and 'recycling' it by slipping in another cheaper screen protector of a different brand. The reason they insist on putting the screen protector in the shop for you, is they don't want you taking eveything home and finding out that it ain't from the brand you bought.

So when you think you are paying for a S$40 anti-glare iPad screen protector, that could really be a simple S$20 clear sheet protector.

Well, it's not all that bad at Sim Lim, I managed to get this iPad case after a little bit of bargaining. It's thin and light so I can slip it in my backpack.

Comes in real handy at home when I need to look at two screens for work.

Ok, food time again! Just a little something I spotted Orchard Ion shopping mall. Foie Gras Xiao Long Bao! Now I don't mind trying that (definitely not going for the 'Cheesy' one). Hey, I did my homework on them ducks long ago and I know both sides of the story. So is this a 'WTF', 'Interesting' or even 'Yummy'?

Cavalock and The Wash Pole Collision

Whoa, it's that time of the year again. National Day is just round the corner and if you have have been around this blog for awhile, you know it's time to check out our country's wash pole patriot.

Looks like this year, he or she decided to go for a little veranda kinda look. Was kinda hoping to snap a shot with some undies or unmentionables draped over the flag or something. Yah, I think this at least deserves a 'WTF' tick below. <^;^>

On the food front, there's never been a better time to have a hearty, cheap western breakfast than now. Used to be McDonald's was the only place to get a cheap breakfast meal around here but these days, you are just spoilt for choice.

Recently I been to Coffee Bean's 1 for 1 deals, now that's good value. And also to Coffee Club for their breakfast meals. So I was back at Coffee Club yesterday morning and had their buttermilk waffles and apple (or blueberry) compote for only S$7. A McD's hotcakes meal is what? S$4 or S$5 with their premium coffee? A couple of bucks more and you get this. I thought it was a pretty good deal.

Yah, you'll get your usual coffee or tea too. I think it's great that there are so many choices now. But really, my favorite breakfast has still gotta be just the simple prata, as evident here, here and here. :P

Cavalock and The San Diego Comic Con Screwup

Figured I'll do a nerd post to celebrate San Diego Comic Con this week in the US. Since my trip there got messed up by the people in charge, I thought maybe I'll just post a little more than usual geeky stuff.

Geeky thing I did yesterday was to stroll down to Epicenter around noon and try my luck at snagging an iPad. As expected, the one I wanted was gone. No big deal really (otherwise I would have Q-ed much earlier) and since they are now taking pre-orders, I placed my deposit immediately.

Someone asked me if I was gonna get the iPhone 4 but I'm still locked in my iPhone 3GS teleco contract. Anyway if I got an iPhone 4, I wouldn't be able to fit this official 3GS Flash case over it. Geddit? Flash on my iPhone? I can say I got Flash on my iPhone...cos the iPhone doesn't support Flash Adobe, funny rite?....oh, nevermind....:P

Now after years of holding out, I finally caved in and started downloading and reading the latest DC/Marvel comic books online. Thanks to sites like comic invasion dot blog spot. The next step would be to get them over to the iPad instead of reading them on the desktop iMac.

Here's some really nerdy news. The guys are currently into Nerf guns, I mean, really into them. I'm talking bout a dozen guys in their 20s and 30s, some married with kids and running and screaming around the condo gardens shooting form darts at each other. I missed the inaugural shootout a couple of weeks ago but might try to make it for the second one next month. Oh, you can bet I'm gonna post something bout it...

Maybe I haven't been out lately but is this new? Looks really good. Tempted again but I don't see myself getting it.

Cavalock and The Food Cable Dilemma

Its been almost a month since we got the Food Network (Asia version) channel on cable here and after watching the shows, all I can say is ...meh... I'll still go for the Asia Food channel if I wanna learn how to cook something or be entertained by the celebrity chefs. Right now there are only two shows on the Food Network that I like and even then I don't make it a point to watch every episode of it, the shows are 'Unwrapped' and 'Food Network Challenge'.

'Unwrapped' is a half hour show that looks at popular American processed snacks like It's It, Ben & Jerry's mini cups and cocktail franks. I kinda like it cos it's all just sinful snacks that I don't usually eat a lot of here in Singapore, yah, I know it sounds weird.

'Food Network Challenge' is cool cos sometimes you get to see professional chefs in action, competing against each other, other times you get some small town cook-offs with a bunch of housewives, the latter I avoid. Favorite so far is the sandwich aka super hero challenge. Four chefs, four timed rounds. Cold, Hot, Panini and Signature sandwich. Really had me dying for a lobster roll sandwich plus me wanting to get a Panini machine so badly.

So I finally made my return to Tom's Palatte this week. That's salted caramel cheesecake there. Had my heart set on my fav blueberry cheesecake but no such luck that night. Was alright but did I ask for two flavors? Nope, although I was tempted by the apple pie, I'm a one flavor kinda guy which is probably why I'll never be destined for a threesome. :P

Oh yah, as you can see, I did a little revamp here. Feel free to click on those little buttons you see at the bottom of each post! <^;^>

Cavalock and The Dunkin' Discovery

Well, the place I work folded over the weekend and that means about 20 wonderful people are out of jobs. Naturally I'm sad but there were already signs, trip to San Diego Comic Con being cancelled and all that. Local fat boss is a screw-up and not a business kinda guy, if you know what I mean. I guess in this part of the world, setting up a profitable creative company really is harder than it looks.

What is also sad is all the young, incredible foreign creative talent that are in a kinda limbo right now. These people are like waiting to know what to do next, their pay, apartment lease, etc. They are some of the nicest, most talented people I have ever met. As for me, I'm as ok as I can be. Money-wise, I'm debt free and I can always shake my booty to make a couple of bucks again ...er... just kidding bout the last part. <^;^> Nah, I won't starve to death. I'll still look for work but in the meantime I'll probably cook more, work out again (finally), spend time with my family, carry out my new slumlo ...oh, I mean, landlord duties and blog more too if anyone is still interested.

Ok, enough of that, let's see some food pix. Look what I found at NTUC Finest, the new one next to Somerest MRT station. Dunkin' Donuts coffee powder! Since I got my Nespresso machine, I got no use for coffee powder but this is my first time seeing it here. With the Killeney Road one, now I got two NTUC supermarkets near my other home. Why two? I dunno.

Was also at Vivo City last week, I swear the only thing good bout that mall are the food joints. Ate at that No Signboard seafood restaurant for the first time and whoa, check out that deco! Damn right they'll be serving you seafood!

We ordered quite a bit, starting with the S$8 oyster, I think it was S$8. Nice, big and juicy although it couldn't beat the one I had at Borough Market last year.

The cereal prawns is another winner. After this pix and dish, came the crabs both buttered and white pepper. No pix for them cos after stuffing myself with the prawns, my sticky fingers were in no condition to be touching my iPhone. :P

Cavalock and The Fellowship Singalong

I said this before, when I started this blog, it's gonna be bout stuff that I like, stuff that makes me happy and boy, did I enjoy myself on Tuesday night when I finally met up again with the guys. Cos of my mom and all, I haven't been meeting up with the guys for games and meals for a long time. Anyway, before dinner a few of us met up at Serene Center to check out the remains of Comics Mart, that's where most of us used to get our stuff. Man, the shop is really gone and the only thing separating us and boxes of comics and games was a cheap little combination lock. Was real tempted to add breaking and entering to my resume. <^;^>

Anyway, we drove to Greenwood, was my first time there, quaint little place. It was a geek fest. Seven guys, six iPhones, three iPads, one private dining room. We rocked that little room with 80s cartoon tunes, memories of the gazillion games we played, the thousands of $$$ we spent on them, news on the latest pop culture, plus all the Japanese food we can eat. My friend can recite the entire Greedo speech, alien word for word, just before Han fires. And also the famous rock paper scissors lizard Spock scene from our favorite sitcom, Big Bang Theory.

scissors cuts paper
paper covers rock
rock crushes lizard
lizard poisons spock
spock smashes scissors
scissors decapitates lizard
lizard eats paper
paper disproves spock
spock vapourizes rock
rock crushes scissors

We found out that none of us really got Twilight, one of us subscribed to Paris Hilton's tweets and all of us are itching for a Nerf shootout real soon. Was really fun. After dinner, all seven of us piled into the wagon, still challenging each other on our iPads and iPhones. If there are any safety violation laws on driving and playing iPhone games at the same time, we definitely broke them.

Time for another Meidi-Ya sighting. Here's something I saw during lunch. Looks so good but I didn't buy it. Super Thick Shake for all you milkshake lovers, I know there are a couple of milkshake shops around the island so I guess this might be a good alternative.

I guess all you gotta do is pour the choc pieces into the shake. Stir it up and it's done.

Cavalock and The Child Free Hypothesis

Yessssss, so finally I have been validated! I always knew this was true, been telling folks but not everyone agreed with me. So there! All Joy and No Fun: Why parents hate parenting.

A very well-written article by New York Magazine. Countless studies have shown that having kids are making more people unhappy and it's just sad that most people refuse to believe this. I don't wanna slip into an incoherent rant here so I'll just pick some quotes from the story.

'Most people assume that having children will make them happier. Yet a wide variety of academic research shows that parents are not happier than their childless peers, and in many cases are less so. This finding is surprisingly consistent, showing up across a range of disciplines.'

'Healthy relationships definitely make people happier. But children adversely affect relationships.'

'Lori Leibovich, the executive editor of Babble and the anthology Maybe Baby, a collection of 28 essays by writers debating whether to have children, says she was particularly struck by the female contributors who’d made the deliberate choice to remain childless. It enabled them to travel or live abroad for their work; to take physical risks; to, in the case of a novelist, inhabit her fictional characters without being pulled away by the demands of a real one. “There was a richness and texture to their work lives that was so, so enviable,” she says.'

'Before urbanization, children were viewed as economic assets to their parents. If you had a farm, they toiled alongside you to maintain its upkeep; if you had a family business, the kids helped mind the store. But all of this dramatically changed with the moral and technological revolutions of modernity.'

Now before you think I'm just taking the quotes to support myself, read the article, it's all there. And we know there's no country with a crazier rat race for parents and kids than this country!

Alright, some food bits now. Did managed to drop by Nando's again when it wasn't that crowded. Half a chicken is just nice for me. Not exactly a place I would keep going but for roasted or grilled chicken, it's way better than Kenny Roger's.

Had breakfast on Saturday morning at Coffee Bean and they have this one-for-one offer that I thought was a steal. Two breakfasts for the price of one. Thought it was only on weekdays but the (almost deserted) outlet at Orchard Central still had it last Saturday.

A little geeking out over the weekend too. Bought almost S$60 worth of Call of Cthulhu products. Best part was finding out the iPhone auto spellchecks the word 'Cthulhu', how cool is that?

Cavalock and The Niku Udon Catalyst

After a long illness, my uncle passed away on Friday. He was the bestest uncle anyone could ever ask for. He loved me unconditionally and asked for nothing in return. He got my jokes and we could talk bout all kinds of stuff. When I was just a little kid, he worked in a certain bank across the US in cities like New York, San Francisco and even Honolulu for almost a decade and he would send back boxes filled with toys and comic books.

When I asked him about drinking and what I should order for the first time in a bar, he said 'coke and rum'. So I told the barkeep I'll have a 'coke and rum' and the barkeep said, 'kid, it's rum and coke, never say coke and rum'. Well, he also introduced me to joys of Baileys and red wine. <^;^>

Oh, another piece of advice I got was when I was on my way to the Big Apple, "whatever you do, don't act like a tourist, you'll get mugged". He was into classical music, opera, country and rock and roll from the 50s and 60s. Ok, didn't get into the first two but Johnny Cash, Motown, Elvis, I was totally there. He subscribed to Time, Newsweek and National Geographic (that mag always had a weird smell), he even opened a DC Comics subscription for me. Anything I wanted, he'll give it to me, no questions asked.

I know the last thing he would want right now is me to be sad. He was a quiet and private person but I bet he'll be excited to know that I might be heading to the west coast next month. I'll miss him for sure but I know life is short and soon, we'll all be together again.

Wow, hope I didn't freak anyone out with this. Well, it's just something I wanted to say. Hey, I still got food stuff to talk about.

My current fav cheap meal. Niku udon or pork udon at Liang Court food basement. Thin and tender slices of pork, a clear tasty broth and it's only S$7. The udon is just of the right texture, not too chewy. The whole experience kinda reminds me of those little udon joints in Shinjuku cos its cheap, convenient and taste really good.

Cavalock and The Hokkaido Fair Paradox

Now I forgot to bring my headphones to the office one day and I'm just nodding off after lunch. That can't be good. Anyway the Hokkaido Fair is back at Isetan Scotts supermarket again and as I kinda expected, there really wasn't anything there that caught my eye. They have like, three or four a year now? I honestly lost count, I know I was at the last one in February.

There isn't a ramen store this time. The beer garden is still there but I gave that a pass.

For lunch, I found myself at the revamped Tonkichi upstairs. They seemed to have more tables for bigger groups now. More stuff on the menu too and a tiny, little sushi bar in the corner near the kitchen. Had my usual shabu set. Difference now are two little extra pieces of tofu I guess. Still one of my favorites so I'm not complaining.

Here's something I wanted to blog for the longest time but just never around to it. Macarons from ET Artisan Sweets. All the way (at least for me) from Holland Grove Road. Unless you have a car, it's pretty hard to get there. As much as I like them, I don't think I got it in me to wax poetic bout them. I'm like the 2,435th person to blog bout them so trust us when we say it's good.

Cavalock and The Sweet Potato Acquisition

An all-snacks desserty update! Now I don't usually talk bout snacks cos I don't do them but here's one that kinda caught my attention and tastebuds so here we go.

Sweet potato chips from Japan, now the only English words on the little cups are 'sweet potato' and Osatsu Doki. Cups are bout the size of the smaller cup-a-noodle ones. Don't mistake them for the Calbee brand.

There are two flavours, the plain one comes in the red cup and the butter-flavoured one comes in the yellow cup. Far as I know, you can only get them at Meidi Ya supermarket, Liang Court. S$2.85 a pop.

The chips are small but thick little pieces. Not very salty but the yellow one does have a pretty strong buttery flavor.

I think they are selling pretty well cos the last few times I was there, it was sold out and then again right after they replenished it. So there you go, if you are ever in the neighborhood like maybe after a meal at Chikuwa Tei (hah!), go take a five minute stroll to Liang Court and grab a cup of chips.

So like after more than a decade I think, I finally found myself back at Robertson Quay or was it Robertson Walk? Anyway, there I was on a Saturday nite and no, I wasn't there for the World Cup. I don't believe in paying millionaire sportsmen to entertain themselves but I digress.

Found myself at the popular Laurent Bernard Chocolatier for the first time. Too bad they ran out of the souffle they I wanted. Got myself a caramelized coffee with milk and the girls ordered a bottle of Moet and a couple of Blackforest cakes, that is I think it was Moet.

Not a bad nite and yes, we all did have dinner at Chikuwa Tei earlier. <^;^>

Cavalock and The High Definition Ransom

*Yawn* it's like past midnite, early Sunday morning as I'm typing this, waiting for my hair to dry before hitting the sack. What a week, new lady boss from the US but not gonna talk bout work here.

My old cable recorder finally bit the dust by deleting all my recorded shows one afternoon last week. Then found out that my model has been discontinued and the only one they have right now that offers recording is their top model, the high definition one. So if you ever want to record any shows at all, you have absolutely no choice but to pay get the most expensive cable box in the market. StarHub, you really suck big time, and you are sooo lucky it's late and I can't think of any worse insult than that. Yah, I had no choice but to get it cos I need to record my shows. Damn, I'm so glad you guys are getting screwed by the World Cup fiasco.

Like I said, it's late and my sentence construction skill is slipping really fast. Time to let the pix do the talking.

Now I know Ice didn't really enjoy her last visit to Ootoya but mine was pretty good. I think my trick is ordering the same thing again, hey, once I like something, I usually stick to it at least for the next couple of times.

Nice steaming pork soup with mushrooms and other veggies. Taste great, only problem was the there were only two pieces of pork in it.

Usual rice with fishy toppings and then dessert!

Caught this new condo while visiting my old neighborhood. Man, if I was still living there, I'll feel like Poland. OK, I think not many people will know what this WWII history buff is talking about. <^;^>

Cavalock and The Wasabi Chikuwa Connection

A couple of years ago, an ex-colleague brought the office to this little Japanese restaurant in Far East Plaza called Wasabi Tei. Great food, huge generous portions too and at damn good price, no GST or service charge if I remember correctly. Down side was it was eat and run place. Trust me, you would wanna leave real fast after eating...;)

You know, I could have sworn I blogged bout it but I just can't seem to find it. Hah!

Anyway the place closed like last year or early this year, or rather some 'ah beng' took over and the quality just plummeted. But just last week, I found out from the best damn food blogger in town that the chef has turned up at a new joint, his own I believe, just across the road from my office!

It's now called Chikuwa Tei, it's a proper Japanese restaurant with waitresses and staff, price has gone up as expected but the quality is all still there. Well, I think I have already spent too much talking, I'm just gonna like the pix do all the talking now. Been there a couple of times already, usually I'll just go for the Take Sushi (S$20), a small side order and maybe a bottle of Japanese beer. So yah, if you see a lone guy nursing a beer there on a Friday nite, that's probably me.

Recently I learnt that me and my office will be heading to San Diego Comic-Con for a working/biz trip in the middle of July. Now if I heard this news, a year or two ago, I'd be happier than a fat tick on a skinny dog. But with my mom's cancer and everything, the enthusiasm just ain't there. Of cos, my mom who is still as feisty and alert as ever, has insisted that I go. We'll see how it goes.