I know, It might've been too early to taste it but....

See here i was the other day, haven't been really sleeping much the past couple of days, only been getting like say 3-4 hours of sleep and i was working the morning shift the next day; i thought to myself i really needed to find a way to calm down and get my much deserved zzz's...

My initial thought was to ride out my next shift without sleeping so i would be fully exhausted and be neeeding sleep right when i get home - but then again i thought to myself that if i did that it would jeapordise my health, so my conclusion came to looking through my stock of red wines i have and to open one to calm me down and (hopefully) put me to sleep^^

I know - doesn't sound like a bright idea, but it was worth a shot - as i would not wanna go see a doctor bout this yet (I know - Drama hahahaha;p) Rummaging through my small cellar, and i do mean small by the way, i had to go through my most sought after merlots; yes, for those that don't know, I'm an avid merlot drinker and fell in love with this particular varietal during my short stint in Australia(which at that time I was fairly new to the wine scene)so yea that's that hehe;)

It was either my Brown Brother's Merlot 2004 or my Jacob's Creek 2006 - both which are good wines by the way, but somehow, I think the one from Victoria state was calling to me...so i went with my Brown Borthers 2004^^



So this is what i got from it:

Color - Beautiful plum red color with hints of burgundy

Nose - Refreshing hints of Caramel, a very earthy scent of soils, Blackcurrants,
Prunes, Raspberry, French Oak & maybe Smoked Wood(?)

Palate - Aged really well and still has its medium bodied volume, hints of
Chocolaty taste which reminds me of an odd mixture between dark chocolate
and truffles, dried Cranberries and oddly enough an aftertaste of caramel &
praline^^

Sounds weird that I'm actually making tasting notes of my wines, however i find that it actually helps me remember and recall those that i had before and i do miss them - just been busy with work (with the Christmas and New Years round the corner!?!).

And the good news, I finally felt relaxed and went to sleep like 30mins after drinking my merlot that i was up and refreshed the next day for work, guess it was me missing on my wines hehe^^

My New Addiction^^

Would you believe that I've actually downed half a tub of Haagen Dazs, Green tea Ice cream?
I know, its sounds overly dramatic - however, I've missed this for sooooooooooo Long hehe;p


This might sound odd to your guys, but eventhough i have my passion for wine (especially red wine^^) my new addiction is the Haagen Dazs' Green tea ice cream...but on the other hand i haven't had my Ben & Jeery's Cookie Dough ice cream for awhile...hmmm gotta find some soon....hehe;p

Oh-well so much for my new addiction...Might actually have to find multiple addictions now hehe;p

Eww, What a Mess!?!

The other day, a couple of friends and i decided to go for some nasi lemak at Boon Lay, as i was told that they have great nasi Lemak there and that it takes awhile to actually get it - like 30 minutes in queue!! However, since i was a little tired and needed to do some laundry as i was gonna be working on the breakfast shift the next day they decided that instead of Nasi Lemak we should try Wu Jiang at bukit Timah food court...

Mind you i do not know what it really was, and yet even though i do speak chinese i feel like an ABC most of the time so yea they were making fun at me for it-_-'''

So off we went to Bukit Timah Foodcourt just alittle way off Jln Jurong Kechil... I don't exactly remembered the name of the food court, but i do remember it was quite close to a church there hehe;p

Ta-Dah!! So this was what they were talking bout...

I know, for the uninitiated, it doesn't look appetising let alone really much appealing for those who could care less about good food... However good food comes in all forms and its usually those that look odd that do tend to taste a heck lot better that those that are being plated to precision but i disgress...




Technically, this can't be called a dish; its more like a morsel fo snacks, and from what i was told, you can pick and choose what items you want for the dish. my friends basically did all the choosing for what best combination go for having a kinda like dinner snack. So what you see is basically prawn crackers (yea the crispy thing the chopsticks are pointing to), Fishcakes(the rolls with a white filling inside), fried tofu, Egg and meat rolls and some cucumber strips. And it comes with spicy dipping sauce^^


Not only that we also had some carrot cake & sugar cane drinks to top it off for the day^^


Hmm... This is odd, i thought it would be just as a joke to label this post as it is but suprisingly the pics really fit the description eh? Please don't mind the pictures, i can happily say that the food however was excellent^^ hehe;p

More from Cafe Iguana^^

This is just random stuff that i saw at cafe Iguana and i didn't place it in the last entry as it just didn't seem to fit anywhere...



I found it especially interesting with what they did for the bathrooms, it was like a mini encyclopedia for tequila and everything related to it, there was even a how to drink tequila poster^^



























Not only that, there was even a history for mazcle tequila and the myth that comes with putting one of the Agave worms into the tequila to add flavor to them... I still remember the first time i saw a worm in my tequila and thought it was joke being pulled off by the bartender or was it just a mistake being put in by accident. My friend however thought me that on the contrary that it comes with the drink;) And apparently if you do get it in your shot, you will be the one to drink it as its an unspoken rule as respect for the bartender - however i thought that he was just pulling my leg-_-''

Birthday @ Cafe Iguana!!

This actually took place quite early on in the week; it was kinda impromptu as the b'day boy wasn't supposed to know that it was supposed to be a treat for him.


The b'day boy is on the left...

Well first up was to pick him up at school, yea i know... sounds weird to be picking up a big boy from school now hehehe;p Nah it wasn't like dat, he said for us to meet up first at his school in Dover, den we would head off to Clarke Quay for drinks and all... One thing that I must say is that Clarke Quay has really transfromed since the last time i went there, considering it was roughly 3 - 4yrs ago -_-''

However it was a good transformation, everything was all hip and new(not counting those restaurants that were around even during the transformation) and it really does showcase and will live up in dues time to make Singapore the melting pot of cuisines around the world - there was everything to niche restaurants (Clinic, fancy having ur food being fed to you through IV anyone? hahaha... just kidding...) to middle eastern restauarnts (i'm in love with the morroccan lounge btw and can't wait to go back and try their full menu^^) and the regulars such as cafe Iguana and the likes...


Right, as we found our seats, we went bout ordering our drinks as the food service wouldn't start till 6ish, and since the b'dae boy was still getting acquainted to different forms of drinks i thought we could start off with tequila motif cocktails and this was what we ordered^^

The Drunken Iguana, the drink that gives a kick to start off things^^ who can go wrong with southern comfort & tequila right? - this was what i had...hehe;)


The Iguana Breeze - something to ease a newbie to our new friend tequila^^ This was actually a refreshing blend of lime and a splash of grenadine^^

And guess wat came with it? snacks, well sorta if you consider fried nachos ur typical snack;)
Can still taste the fragrant Tomato dip that came with it, flavored with limes, shallots, cumin and cilantro mmmm... Mouth watering^^

We were catching up with whats been going on in life and this and that, the usual stuff, when we placed our orders for later; well technically so we can get first dibs on the food before anyonelse starts ordering for food and the kitchen will be a tad slow playing catch up with the food orders^^ This was what we ordered, some calamari, mini chimichangas and some chicken and mushroom quessidillas - mind you, we weren't planning on gorjing down on main courses and not let the celebrant try this and that of the menu^^

But before moving on to the food (oddly enough our drinks were finished when we placed our order - go figure^^), we placed more orders on more cocktails... come one what would you expect? Ice water? hehe;p

This time we had...

A Caballa Negro - apparantly this is a classic favorite in Mexico (the beautiful country that produces Tequila^^ But its technically just a different variation to having your coke spiked with a different liqour aka rum and coke...)



and...





A Cazuela, a rich fruit cocktail of oranges, grapefruits, limes and a healthy serving of tequila^^










Not long after the drinks came, our foods finally came...

1st up is our Ancho Dusted Calamari Rings


Beautifully crumbed and deep fried to perfection where the calamari was not too tough & rubbery and not too soggy, it was set on a nice couli of jalepano sauce - Delicious with a capital D!! I love the fact that this was such a simple dish but it does whet your appetite for more and might i say it was addictive^^

Next was the Mini Chimichangas


Apologies for the half-arsed pic, we got alittle too carried away with chowing down on food, This was exquisite on its own, a well known mexican food, where you get your huge overdose on avocados(you see the green paste like thing, well its actually guacamole and its made from avocadoes - Divine^^), sour cream and Tomato concasse... So can you blame us? hehe;)

And finally the Chicken and Mushroom Quessidillas

As the words of the b'dae boy, "Its kinda like undercooked pastry, but crispy", filled to the max, it was literally dripping with soft cheddar and mozerella when it reached the table... and to top it of more the heavenly tomato dip that accompanied the nachos earlier^^

Reading what i've just wrote, i'm starting to have the hunger pangs for the foods again(not good, i don't wanna overdose on mexican food hahaha;p)

Dessert was a simple affair, we had a simple chocolate cake that cafe Iguana was well known for

The Ancho Chille Chocolate Cake



A decadant flourless chocolate cake that was served with its home made vanilla ice cream, can still literally taste the feel of the vanilla granules they used for the ice cream- simply a work of art and it complimented the cake very well. Jason was asking how come it was flourless, and i pointed out that cakes need not necessarily be made with flour, you can actually make cakes with many alternatives such as ground almonds, eggs and such. The one that we had, if i'm to guess, I believe it was made with ground almonds as it was quite heavy unlike those made with eggs which are usually sponge types and light - this one had a cool crumbling effect and it had hints of crushed and slivered almonds to create texture when you take a bite of it^^ Yummy^^

After dessert, we just chilled and had more drinks well, it was more of me having more to drink (me and tequila, we go way back so there was still lots of catching up to do hahaha;p) I placed my order for a nice after dinner cocktail which was the....


You know what? I've kinda forgotten the name of that drink, however it did remind me of a white russian, it was basically tequila, kahlua and milk^^ I usually take the black russian on the rocks, but as they say when in Rome(or a Mexican restaurant)....



It was a great dinner outing and would you believe we were at cafe Iguana for roughly 4hours?!? Now thats what i would call wining and dining...

Birthday boy, I know you've been abit anxious waiting for me to post this entry, but it does take awhile for me to really know what to write down, and i'm kinda guessing this is one HUGE entry^^ hehe... Live your live to the fullest ya, and hopefully when your birthday comes around again, you might be able to take leave from your NS so you can meet with everyone for another round of celebrations^^ Happy Birthday again Jason...

Lookey What I Found on The Island? Well, not Really...

Take a guess what this is?




Nope, its not black olives... though i wish i'm munching on some right now with a martini in hand while typing this hehe;p



Give up? Well its called a Kembayau (I think that's how you spell it - dun't really know the english name for it though-_-'') Its an olive like fruit which is kinda abundant in Brunei, Sarawak & Sabah, well maybe also in Indonesia - not quite sure on that... The interesting thing about this fruit is that in order to eat it, you have to soak it in hot water for a few minutes orelse you'll be biting into the smooth purplish skin into a thin layer (which would be the flesh of the fruit) and into something kinda hard inside which would be the seed hehe;p Funny but true, the seed actually takes up roughly 70% of the fruit!! And you just kinda eat it like a longan or lychee where you eat the flesh and spit out the seed... And it's soooo gooood to eat^^

Not only that, you can't boil them as they'll just go hard and in the end will be inedible for you. Double soaking them in boiling water will also do no good, so its only meant to be soaked once only, guess its good as you can make as much as you like to have in one go and not worry bout any wastage hehe^^ The skin is edible however i prefer having it without the skin as the skin makes my teeth purplish hehe;p

I've always liked eating this fruit since I was little and it was kinda nice when one of my roomates brought this back with him from his leave hehe;p thanks buddy... And to top it off you only need boiling hot water and salt or soy sauce or sugar and the list goes on hehe;p



Think I'm gonna go make some right now, before they go rotten^^ Laterz.........

Guess What I Heard?

Well here i was minding my own business, catching up on my Crisis Core on my PSP, when this person sat down beside me during the train ride back home after work... It wasn't that i was trying to eavesdrop, however it was not easy trying to concentrate on finishing my mission when this person was talking bout politics and the likes - loudly over the phone. Honestly, i'm not a big fan of it, but this person was goin on and on about it - I'm greatful that Obama won the election race...

However it was kinda interesting hearing what this person was saying, such as the events sans post election race, about Palin and McCain's Camp(they're both Republicans!!) and her unhappiness bout the people in the camp and the instability of tibet and how China was refusing to budge on the said issue whereby the Dalai lama needs to be brought in to mediate and stuff... I found it even more amusing when the person was hoping that China's economy won't overtake the U.S.'s, well here's the deal and its been kinda precidted that China's economy will be the biggest economy in roughly 2015 so wake up!! Things are moving forward, the world is changing and yea, sometimes not to the way we hope but i'm sure it'll work out in the long run, so whatever ideas or views you have, i know we have freedom of speech but please don't go overboard-_-...

Guess its just another day in Singapore for me that is... hehe;p

Cravings for Tarts

Something that i've not had for awhile, and i do mean a long while is custard tarts!!
Don't let the picture fool you, it actually tastes alot better then it looks, and this was taken way back when i was still in Brunei, before i decided to up and leave to Singapore for work commitments.

Still can taste the roughly chopped sweetcorn mixed together with the creamy custard filling and its soft and crumbly pastry (well more of a mixture of sweet and short pastry - the fact that its not even done with lard to achieve that texture is even more amaxing to me!!) Still... I can only wish my friends from back home would be willing to bring some over for me when they do come to visit me in the next couple of months hehe;p

Oh well now to find something similar to this to fill the void here in Singapore hehe... that reminds me, haven't been doing much exploring round the island since i got here...

Tales from The Taxi Driver

Hey all,

I know its been awhile since i've blogged - do forgive me, like i said, i've been quite lacking in the memory deparment so, i do try to blog as much as i do - and to some of my friends that mention i don't blog much - I'm trying^^

Well here's to another post...
Was just the usual day at work (though it was busy, pay day so its expected), me and a few of the crew decided to go for chinese gyoza (till i know how to write the real chines name, i'm sticking to calling it gyoza hehe;p) It was fun, this time it was a different group, it was basically me, joan, jason and JX... Kinda cool to see the different dynamics when its not the usual drinking buddies. JX was abit shy, joan was her usual cheery mood (honestly, i've yet to see her feelin down or not happy) and jason was catching up with FFVII on his PSP (be paitent for the 777's) and well we all basically had a blast binjing out on gyoza, carrot cakes & beer....

It was not till we (well more like it was i who decided) to take the cab home, because
2. I was kinda lazy to walk home on a really full stomach
1. I thought we could all use a nice treat^^

We caught a cab just right out of the kopitiam(yes guys back home, i visit the kopitiam now hahaha;p)
1st stop was to drop joan off - she had fun watching my psp just playing FFVII on its own, while JX was just kinda sleepy and staring out the window and Jason was riding shotgun and hanging round Wutai, so to speak hehe;p
Next stop was JX, and we kinda learnt more about him - apparently he's only got one friend that he really trust, and me thinks jason is right on his trust issues, he's very very introverted, though i could be wrong...
Third stop was at Bukit Panjang - where Jason stays.... this is where it gets interesting... after jason got out of the car, i told the taxi driver where i was getting off, and he mentioned that it felt like he was taking a practical exam on roads in Singapore, I assured (& re-assured) him that i wasn't with his company...

I was surprised to learn that a cab shift is 12hrs and that in order to become a taxi driver in singapore you only go through a theoratical test and Thats it!! I should consider this as a new option of extra income - but then again, i don't own a car-_-''
Jason, you'll be surprised to here this, the taxi driver thought you've finished your NS; but when i told him u haven't he was shocked and tot u were 20ish and said u were abit plump so to say and asked me whether you've finished your NAFTA(he mentioned it was a physical test or something, one that you need to do before you head off for NS?) or something like that - i told him, he should've asked you before you got out of the car hehe;p

Interesting thing i've noted about the taxi drivers in the island of Singapore, they're like mini encyclopedias and they have really really cool random knowledge (how was i to know that a cab shift was 12hrs? eh?) and they're fun to get to know on long trips when your riding alone^^ Well after the Q&A about my friend jason he was asking me about what we were doing all the way in Bukit Batok and i told him that i was working round that area and i was kinda like their boss at work and so on and so forth and he said something interesting - "You're the Big boss, so it a given that you treat them all to a ride home" honestly, i was taken aback by it and wasn't really sure whether to take it as a compliment or an insult?




Next time more tales from the taxi driver... so stay tunded;p

Something you Don't see in aWhile

Well, here i was, going through some photos i've snapped some time ago since i've settled in the island called Singapore, and i found a photo which was interesting as my roomate brought it back with him when he came back from his trip home to kuching; its called a Lak Kia Kio; well more approriately I don't know the exact name for it but i disgress... and the intersting thing is that its found mainly on the Island of Borneo(yup the place that you could find Brunei, Sarawak, Sabah & Kalimantan), yup just a stone's throw across the pond of the South China Sea towards the East^^

I've taken quite a liking to this particular fruit, because of the fact that if you want to eat it, and i was told that the only way to eat it was to make it into a soup as it has an inedible skin and that it costs quite abit now(right even with the economic situation round the world, fruits from the forest also cost more - what happened to fruits from the forest were part of mother nature's gift?) Not only that, i think this is what could be Borneo's own version of a Tom Yam soup (anyone willing to sponsor me to make the recipe, you know where to contact me^^) as i see it that most of the people living on the island enjoy food that are savory and spicy^^ or it could just be me hehe;)

Will update more when i find out more and if i can get my hands on more of this fruit....