I am an absolute middle class.. no if, no but… day in day out, life is all about sleep, eat, work, shit and repeat. Sometimes down the road, I reckon that if I do not start recording what I enjoy doing in life.. I might just lose it, together with the ever diminishing grey matter…so here I am, join the rank of a blogger, telling you a little extraordinary happenings in my absolutely ordinary life.
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Last I noticed, I stopped writing in March 2020, when the pandemic strikes and that is more than a year zip by. Lots of things happens and lots of thing stays stagnant but definitely a year that most wants to forget.
Singapore went into a lock-down, a Circuit Breaker (CB) in an attempt to break the chain of transmission of the Coronavirus COVID-19. In short, a stay-at-home order and cordon santaire implemented as a preventive measure on 7 April 2020. The pandemic was then a wild fire ravaging the dorms then.. in hundreds and thousands. Life went into a standstill, a usual bustling Singapore grinder to a halt, the infamous ERP (Electronic Road Pricing) system stops charging, the Ministry of Finance starts issuing handouts to help the common folks and businesses, the Food & Beverage deliveries flourish and the list goes on.
The world changed, one Olympics 2020 was delayed, one president of America change hands and all within a span of one year, Time seems to have stop but the years just zipped by. On hindsight, felt like sitting on a time machine and a full year just pass.
A year on, the virus mutated, many times over. A year ago, we expected the mutation, we expected a herd immunity and we expect a better earth. A year later, a more deadly COVID-19 strain from South Africa, UK, Brazil and India pop up, bringing the recovery curve south-wards.
The world seems to need a break, if the world stays home for a month, we would have halted the virus, break the chain there and then but that is not how the world works, someone still need to keeps the lights on, keep the communal facilities running, feed us, dump the rubbish etc etc.
We will make do with a vaccine jab, see a doctor and get isolated soonest with the end goal of segregating the sick and the well. When we are able to do this, we will then beat the enemy.
Ironically, Kiasu-ism (the Singapore way of fear of missing out “FOMO”) may be the attitude to beat the pandemic. If we are conscious of what we do, be absolutely fearful of the consequence of action for this period, we will get through this faster. This may means staying at home more, delay planned meetings, less social drinking and no traveling.
What we do today, will have an effect on the next two weeks so be Kiasu and we will be fine. Wear a mask, it is not fine to not don a mask even when you are fully vaccinated, the enemy just morphed. Avoid crowded areas, do not give the virus to spread and we should be better a few more weeks later.
Is there a second life to a product, can it still be useful, can it be an art piece as well?
I have been gifted a product that is exactly all the above and would like to share it here.. done by an artisan in his own right is this masterpiece.
Recycled shoe rack
Two piece of pallet wood, four pre-loved wooden clothe hanger is all he needs to create this useful piece of art. Pallet wood and hangers given a new lease of life, a small step but a sure step towards saving the environment.
Have been tardy writing for a while.. and before I know it, it’s another lunar new year. In our (Chinese) tradition, we have gathering of family members, eating together over a meal/meals is almost an annual thingy.
One of the must have meal is steamboat, where a broth is made with fresh food prepared (meats, seafood, vegetables) is put into the broil, cook to perfection and eaten once it’s done. It’s nice, surrounding the steamboat, chatting, eating and drinking but after a while.. even the best meal can become jaded.
The new equipment for steaming steamboat
Comes a “different” steamboat, with the food steamed instead of boiled. Key feature being healthy, non-oily, seems the perfect formula for the new health conscious generation.
So how is it done? A stock base is poured into the bottom layer, with the steaming plate placed over it.. and all sorts of food is piled on top and timer is set for the perfectly done food.
Different food piled on the steamer
After numerous courses of steam dishes, just when I thought I am almost done, apparently, the steaming have left the best part.. the yummy juice from the steamed food, flowing down the bottom container. Guess what, some noodles are added.. presto… a noodle soup appeared.
All without oil, stir fry, deep fry what so ever… this.. is what I call an extraordinary meal. Great may I say.. will be back.
Where is this place you may ask.. it’s my yearly pilgrimage to my in-laws place in Penang, Malaysia.
Zheng Xian Ge Restaurant A-3-1 Vantage Jalan Desiran Tanjung, 10470 Tanjung Tokong, Penang, Malaysia +60 12-403 8979 https://goo.gl/maps/RaF7QEucZoodHhWB8
It was a walk in the park in the morning, saw this phenomenal of hundreds of bird cage raise up high on a flag pole, simulating the feeling of being free in the sky so that the birds will chirp to their hearts content.
Apparently it works, the chirping is non-stop, I cannot understand what the birds are chirping for, so not sure they are happy, but the owners definitely look pleased.
This set me thinking, sometimes man can also be in the state of false sense of freedom not realizing that they are still “caged” and happily singing away. This view from the ground do tell us a lot.
My Vietnamese friends in office often laments the lack of real Vietnamese Pho in Singapore, more often I do not understand what they meant till they point me to this Vietnamese Food outfit call Mrs Pho as a must try for real Vietnamese food.
Finally have an opportunity to visit on of their outlet in Rangoon Road and i finally know what they meant.
Special Beef Combo Pho $11.90
Ordered the Special Beef Combo Pho and also the Mrs Pho Dry Noodle. The Special beef Combo Pho comes with slice beef and beef balls, combine with clear tasty broth comes very close to the ones I have tasted in Hanoi.
Mrs Pho Dry Noodle $11.90
The Dry Noodle, made up of Vietnamese Vermicelli, Barbecue Pork, Spring Roll and Meat Balls. The barbecue pork was made to perfection, with the slightly charred smell makes this an absolutely heavenly dish. Would recommend this dish to anyone who lives dry noodle to give this a go.
The outlet is decorated in a very cosy Vietnamese manner, give the diner a great environment to enjoy a meal. They have 3 branches in Singapore serving slightly dDifferent different menu.
1 hour PSI index reaching 209 at 3pm on 14 September 2019, Singapore time.
Haze in Singapore is almost an annual affair save for certain years where the wind assisted to redirect it elsewhere. None more comforting as its our neighbours thats taking the smog.
For readers fresh to the haze scene, 24 hours PSI average reading is taken as a reference point to determine the quality of air. <50 PSI denotes healthy level, 51 – 100 for moderate and 101 – 200 for unhealthy levels.
Whem its at the unhealthy levels, thats where all hell breaks lose, children, elderly folks succumbs to respiratory problems as such schools may be called to be suspended as precaution.
Hotspots from Sumatra (central & southern) and Kalimantan arising from the agricultural fires and also forest fires in the state of Sarawak, Malaysia causing trans-boundary haze to Singapore.
During these period, interesting meme often appears, making fun of the situation like the picture below.
Mimicking the backdrop of a hazy background of a typical ultraman fight.
While there is nothing much we can do, except for staying indoors, giving more business to the air purifier suppliers, we do hope that these fires can be put off soonest and punitive measures are in place to deter future occurence by the slash and burn farmers.
Bigger concern is our wiltering earth, stressed by industrialization, over consumption of resources, such air pollution will just accelerate the demise of our beloved blue planet, now choking. Love our neighbours, love our earth. We will just need to do our part for our own future. 🙏🏻
It seems to be the trend now, everything recycled, everything green. From paper based straws, shoes made from totally recycled materials (allbirds) to handbags (Looptworks).
Had a chance to meet a guy, an absolute middle class office worker who enjoys recycling as a hobby, transforming waste materials into beautiful art pieces. Wine crates dispose by the bars was pick up by him and made with love into incredible art pieces, disposed furnitures magically becomes beautiful displays.
Started off as buying one of his transformed pieces on Carousell and developed into an ardent follower of his unique form of art.
Wine Crate Pedestals
Ordinary people making wonders with creativity, workmanship made the world a greener place. If you would like to follow his art pieces on sale on limited number, look out for his work on https://carousell.com/jaycee00
Made many trips to Penang, heard many good comments about the food in this food centre but only manage to visit it this round. So this is it, Penangite call it 七條路 (Cecil Street Market). The 7th street in the city, predominently occupied by rows of conservation shophouses. Its a market cum food centre, crowded but stacked with great tasting food.
Tried the famous duck noodle and the curry noodle, can’t missed it because of the crowd in front of the stall. Portioning not big but for RM4, one will not complain. Piled with loads of ingredients, a very fragrant soup base, not overly “lemak” coupled with a home made chilli concoction make this one of my favourite curry noodle in Penang.
Don’t miss the duck noodle soup if you are not game to challenge your ability to take spicy stuff. Chunky pieces of duck meat, drown in aromatic broth makes this a heavenly meal.
After the mains, down yourself with chendol, green bean soup and nonya kuehs to complete the meal.
P/S I have packed the roast pork as a takeaway, crisp crackings with tender pork meat make. You must try it to believe it is the best in penang.😊
Duck Kway Teow Soup
Cecil Street Market 七条路巴刹 40-48, Lebuh Cecil, George Town, 10300 George Town, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
Will Eat Will Sleep 