Geylang

We finally got our act together and made it to Geylang Serai for this year's Hari Raya bazaar though it was not the best of days to be there. 15 minutes into our indulgent foray into the food funland, the heavens turned on its faucets and it started to piss down on us. Luckily for us we didn't need to risk ourselves from getting drenched in our pursuit of gluttony as there was a pretty big variety of food under the tent we were stuck in.


The first thing we had was roti bomb(top). I have never tried this before but its like a compact prata and made with a lot of margarine so its quite tasty. It's really artery clogging but damm nice...


We also shared a sloppy Joe, note the steak tartar in the centre


Vadas and chewy fish kerepok


Syareena demonstrating an assassination technique using a toothpick she picked up during her days as a bond girl.


The Ayam Percik was excellent.


The stall from which we got the dengdeng from had a pretty gritty texture and not as spiced as the one we had last year. Weird thing is that every year the dengdeng looks more and more like ba kwa.

We also had chendol, vadas and putu piring(hands were too greasy to take pictures at that point). We were getting pretty full by then but Diana didn't let up and got these rib sticking delights....

Char Kway stuffed with fish paste and deep fried and topped with loads of mayo. über delish!

We were about to cross over to the non-food section of the bazaar when Diana found a stall that sold deep fried everything.

She was fixated with the deep fried crab that they had. She got one and just as she took a bite into it, we advised her to eat it later as maneuvering a crab at the foot of the staircase of an overhead bridge was quite leceh.

Note the crab leg sticking out of the bag. It had scratched someone and a while later in the midst of the hustle and bustle, the bag holding mr crab fell on the floor.... :(


Over at the non-food section, we saw an array of cool things like a giant songkok, tudunged dolls and some cool toys...


Poor girl probably has a tumor in her head from using the handphone too much


I got myself this fucking cute Doraemon Uno card set


Shan doing the tourist thing - fan in one hand and coconut in another.

Dogsitting

DAY 1
This is the 3rd time I am house sitting for my friend Arthur and I ask myself why I actually put myself through the agony of picking up other people's pet poo. Situated in the middle of nowhere with an empty refrigerator and only cans of organic dog food, the only consolation was that the place where he is staying now has a pool. But it was pissing down today and I can't even get the water heater to work. I am a miserable wreck with 2 needy dogs to feed and entertain. Took Bruce and Buffy down for a walk as soon as I could find their leashes. I don't think I will ever make it as a professional dog walker cos I can't even control 2 little dogs during their walk. But then I forget this is Singapore and the maids walk the dogs here.


Possum anyone?

Presentation is everything...

After feeding the dogs, I managed to get online(dail-up connection!) and chatted for a bit. Didn't know what to eat so Syereen suggested a few places that deliver. One of them was golden pillow which she mentioned a few times before so I thought I should give it a try. The lady who took my order sounded like she was in a warzone. She said the delivery would take an hour and a half, judging from my location. I could sense that she was just trying to get me to cancel my order as I was a bit out of the way of their regular delivery route. I was not very hungry so I told her I could wait and she reluctantly agreed.

It actually arrived in less than an hour and came delivered in a box that held a squarish loaf of bread. I was expecting a bun dripping with curry but as I tore into the bun I found a plastic bag that held the curry. Novel idea but wouldn't the plastic bag release toxins when its baked? The curry was incredibly lousy. No, actually it was shit. Chinese curries seem to be made up of a standard set of spices and lots of coconut milk. Sometimes it's actually nice. But not this.

Peeeewwww, pui, puke!

But I was quite hungry by then and had almost half the giant bun and curry, feeling quite grossed-out after. Aiya, I am not a fussy eater, just a bitchy one.

DAY 2

Met Shan at Holland Village to get some lunch and groceries today. We first went to some of the chi chi shops selling designer food at Chip Bee gardens and sniggered at the things they sold. One of them was Da Paulo Gastronomia where we actually spent money in.
Shan got some lemon frosted cupcakes (which we wolfed down immediately after stepping out of the shop), while I bought a lamb shank, a stuffed portabello mushroom that cost 12 friggin dollars and a very fine slab of chocolate truffle.

We went back to the apartment, swam and fed the doggies, then ourselves with a bags of chips and our gourmet purchases.

The lamb shank was not bad though not hearty and a bit bland, while the 12 dollar portabello mushroom(I swear I didn't know that it would cost so much) tasted like shitake but smokier-would do very well if it were sliced and tossed with pasta.

This is worth 6 packets of chicken rice

We had no space left in us for dessert so we went to the balcony to have an after dinner drink while keeping Bruce happy. Fan Fan came over at about 12am and we watched Orange County and Margaret Cho on DVD....

It was almost 4am when the girls left. I felt a major headache coming on and needed to crash. Buffy though had other plans, wanting to jump in bed with me. I could handle that as we slept in the same bed before -just need to endure the sound of her licking herself in complete darkness and silence. Just as I was about to doze off, Buffy started to make hurling sounds. Think she was really going to hurl, I shot out of bed to turn on the light to find her nose dripping wet, probably because she directly under the air-conditioning unit. I put her on the floor and turned off the air-conditioning but she would still occasionally bark at the slightest noise she would hear. At that point I was feeling very highly strung so I got out of bed and scoured through the medicine cabinet hoping to find some Xanax(for me and the dog) but I settled for a Panadol Extra. I finally got to sleep at about 6am, after putting Buffy out of the room.


DAY 3
I had an appointment today at 1pm and got up at 11am after less than 5 hours of unrestful sleep. When I got back, I could tell that Buffy was obviously miserable. She has been missing the litter tray and didn't even touch her morning biscuit treat so I took the dogs for a walk(one at a time) then went for a swim.

Buffy is getting quite smelly. I am not going to shower her. She becomes a monster after a bath as I found out on previous dog sitting sessions and I don't think I deserve anymore hostility from her. The dogs went ballistic when they saw me munching on an apple. I bit off small bits for them but they kept begging for more.Explains their bowel regularity.


Buffy's behavior is freaking me out a little. I hope its just the weather. She seems to be hiding in strange corners of the house and sometimes barks and growls at nothing in particular. She is also terrified by the sound of thunder and the smelly mutt will want to jump on my lap for security. Bruce and his constant whining whilst he is stuck in the balcony(separated cos buffy is not friendly towards other dogs)is really getting to me...Its so hard to please everyone.


I so deserve this

Buka Puasa vol. 3 cum shopping trip @ Mustafa's

Herda called me yesterday and asked if I wanted to join her her shop for toiletries at Mustafas. By the time we met it was almost time to buka puasa.She felt like having vegetarian, so we went to Anadabhavan's just across from Mustafas. It was pretty full so we thought it had to be good, though now I realise that I got sucked into the "crowded must be good" mentality. The food was pretty lame, or maybe it was what I had ordered...

Veggieburgers were invented by Indians

Cardboard kebabs with sulphur coated onions

I had a vada pau and vegetarian kebab while Herda had a cheese naan. Vada pau I think is a Northern Indian street food and is basically a fried potato pattie burger topped with different kinds of chutneys. Herda's naan was pretty mediocre but the vegetarian kebab was downright weird. Just like having mystery meat in spam, this had mystery vegetable. I made the mistake of eating the raw onion that came on the side. It was probably the most pungent tasting raw onion that I have ever had. Similar to a wasabi hit, but this hit lingered for a while.

We crossed over to Mustafa's and thronged through its stacks and stacks of everything and nothing. They expanded two more floors above the original three floors and now carry everything from Henckels knives(think Rolls Royce of knives and cutlery) to obsecure brands of ghee from Coimbatore. I can just spend a whole day looking at all the barang-barang there.
They even carry books and magazines now, like Indian editions of Cosmopolitan, India Today, Stardust(some Bollywood film mag).


There is also weird and wonderful things that we came across....

Pig lotion??


Pukimon flavoured toothpaste, delish!


Doremon toothbrush? Too fucking cute!


Honey flavoured toothpaste, mebbe it can be used as a spread on toast. Ok I admit i do have a fetish for oral care!


Another Japanese invention-scissors to trim and style facial hair.


I might need this.


and this!

So after about more that 2 hours of mindless consumerism and the desperate need to break wind(those damm raw onions I had earlier), we stepped out of Mustafa's to the bright lights of the Tourism Board's efforts to make Singapore an exotic yet consumeristic destination for visitors. But hey they got me.... I didn't really need to buy anything (the kitchen cabinets are overflowing with things from previous shopping trips to Mustafa's) but did buy some neem soap, papadums(Taj Mahal brand rocks!), fresh dates and nata de coco. Retail therapy has never been more practical.

Buka puasa vol. 2

Went to Arab street to "buka puasa" again. Was hoping to have some of the buka puasa fare from the stalls but most of the shops were already packing up, so we decided on going to Samar. Samar is a cozy middle eastern restaurant at the end of Kandahar street, though the food as we found out, really sucked...

Cardboard!

Cardboard!

Nice but too little!

We had ordered Bamia, Lamb Shank, Roast Chicken, Shab Shouka(note this is the correct spelling. Refer to previous post here, where I didn't even know the origins of the dish). The lamb shank served on rice was tough and dry and so was the chicken. I have eaten cardboard with better texture. The saving grace was the Bamia(lamb and okra stew, despite the small portion served in a little ramekin) and Shab Shouka was nice but kinda bland(perhaps the local variation is more suited to our our tempered tastebuds). The cuts of meat used in them were kinda gritty though...

Tulang queen!

We left still feeling hungry and headed to the nearest Starbucks for a sugar fix. I needed an artery clogging Beard Papa cream puff with my iced mocha to make me feel better over a disappointing meal. I have yet to have my Ramadan chendol fix from Arab street. Lemme know if you know of any place that has good chendol.

ps-In the menu there is a picture of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the founder and spiritual leader of Hamas. And apparently they don't serve coke. Go figure.

Cheap cheap

After my yoga lesson today I went to have brunch at one of the hawker centers in Toa Payoh before heading into the office. I bought a $1.50 pack of chicken rice(save myself the trouble of getting dinner later on -I don't want to eat at the cockroach noodles shop next to my office either!)and ordered a bowl of lor mee to have there. It was pretty average tasting but the portions and topping were generous, only $2... though I think the auntie forgot to add vinegar. Sitting at the same table as me was a 50 something year old Chinese man who had a big bottle of carlsberg and another of guiness, eating a plate of nasi lemak. He started talking to me in what could be Malay but I couldn't really make out what he was saying... its been a while since I had a crazy person talk to me(he seemed mildly deranged). I can't say that I miss it but it can be somtimes entertaining-they tell the most amazing stories..... I ta-powed some you char kwey and otah-otah and made them into these heaty little sandwiches when i got back to the office...

Buka puasa vol. 1

I have decided a few days earlier to join my Muslim friends while they break their fast so as to see what culinary delights they consume when they break their fast. I did get a surpise call this morning from catfucker to go to her place to join in the buka puasa at her home. Not that I was fasting or anything but she invited me over cos her mother made mee bandung. I may have tried it once or twice in my life but all I recall is that its yellow noodles that comes with a bright red gravy.

But anyway she did come by my place to pick me up and we went shopping for more food... Ina tipped me off about a place in Tampines(block 940) that sells buka puasa fare from the late afternoon that had quite a variety. As we got out of the car, the wafting aroma from the stalls stirred my innermost animalistic emotion... the kind that would make me want to pounce on sardine epok-epok. Catfucker couldn't contain herself either. She was hopping all over the place. I wonder how it would feel if to be fasting and had to endure the smells coming from all that food...

Ramlee burger!

the nasi briyani smelled divine

and had my first taste of air Katira

We got all we needed and rushed back to her flat to blanch the noodles and vegetables for the mee bandung and prepare the rest of the food and drink before iftar. This was to be my first buka puasa - after 4 hours of not eating. As we sat ourselves down at the table with all the food laid out, I realized that I wasn't particularly hungry. But I soldiered on and slowly enjoyed the mee bandung.


and home made otah...

and later came across a fire breathing cat

Muthu's Curry

Kevin and I ended up at Muthu's curry yesterday after not being able to decide on where to eat last night. That place is just not the same anymore. Almost everything about it is different. Even the location. It underwent a whole new image overhaul and has zen inspired decor with cheesy new age music(they were playing Enya) Why can't they play some classical Indian music instead? The food is not as spicy(target markets are mainly the local Chinese and tourists, anyway which Indian with half a brain would pay good money to eat a fish head when you can get more fish and less head for cheaper). The chicken masala almost tasted like it was a nothern Indian dish. I remember my father bringing home chicken masala when I was a kid and it would be arse burningly spicy and the tumeric from the masala would stain your hands yellow, even after washing. But those days are gone.


Masala tea came with a cinnamon stick stirrer. So chi chi!

I can't say that the food was bad. It was still good. Just didn't have a big enough kick for me. I did have a beer with the meal and it somehow did balanced out with all that mild heat. I have had Erdinger with a pretty spicy nasi padang once and that didn't go down too well somehow. We also had fried mutton(though was more like mutton masala), fried fish and fish cutlets. Kevin seemed particularly fond of the cutlets. I think that the only thing that tasted the same from last time was probably the gravies that came with the meal. I dunno if I should feel happy or sad. I can't stand this. Everyone is selling out.


Branding seems too important these days.