Lunch = claypot rice and fish/cuttlefish porridge and dinner was....

The claypot rice and sliced fish/cuttlefish porridge from A-One were mouth-watering. Of course they are more expensive than the ones at the hawker center or coffee shops. For the 2 dishes we paid about $22. The ones from the hawker stalls would probably cost $8.

Dinner was Superman Nasi Lemak, Haagen-Dazs Ice Cream and Kopi

Superman Nasi Lemak stall is situated at Block 447A, Jalan Kayu (next to the Buddhist temple). It is a newcomer to the neighbourhood. The nasi lemak is delightful with a slightly strong coconut flavour. The ikan billis and the fried chicken wings are crispy and the sambal is tasty. The Superman set is $2.60 and comprises of rice, chicken wing, fried egg and fried peanuts. If you ask for extra toppings like ikan billis or vegetables etc you will have to pay an extra 80 cents for each item.
The Hagaan-Dazs Vanilla Caramel Almond ice-cream and a cup of strong kopi completes our simple and yet delicious dinner.

My lunch and dinner for today

Top picture is the masala dosai. It is a Southern Indian snack which looks like a thin pancake. Inside is stuffing made of mashed potatoes, onions, green chilli and spices. It is eaten with curry gravy and grated coconut milk.
The other picture is the waffle with cream and a scoop of caramel ice cream.


Home cooked Japanese hamburg steak

The Hamburg steak was cooked by my wife. It tasted great and am really grateful for having a wife who is also a fantastic cook.

Brunch,afternoon cake set and dinner

Japanese Hambagu (Hamburg) Steak

Cakes and Cappuccino from McCafe

The Japanese Hamburg steak was home made. It comprised of minced beef with eggs,minced parsley etc etc. We did not use much sauce so it was a little bland but healthy. We had the fried egg, potatoes and fried sliced brinjal as accompaniments. The dish wasn't superb but satisfying.
The cakes set was from McDonald's McCafe. There were 2 types, one was the cheese cake and the other, the chocolate cake. The set came with a cup of cappuccino. Yummy but high in calories.

Nasi Lemak and Ice-cream

The nasi lemak was from a newly opened stall at a coffee shop near our place. For the price ($3.20) it was really worth it. If you minus the ikan billis, the set is only $2.60 which is reasonable.
It gives the famous Punggol Nasik Lemak a run for their money.
The ice-cream was from Magnum. A box of 6 cost $10.90 but if you buy 2 boxes, it is at a reasonable $16.90. The special offer is only available at Fairprice. At the 7-11 stores there is no special offer so one would have to pay $10.90 for a box or $21.80 for 2 boxes.

Hang Ten Men's T-Shirts price comparison

I bought these 2 T-shirts at a shopping mall. Each cost S$5 whereas the ones sold at E-Bay was US$4.74 each. The shipping cost is US$19.90 and will take 2 weeks to arrive. If you add up, the cost of one shirt is US$24.64 which is S$35 (rate of exchange = US$1 is S$1.42). With S$35, one is able to buy 7 pieces in Singapore.


Screenshot from E-Bay (click on image for larger version)

Visited Sushiro again

We couldn't resist going back to Sushiro for the Japanese food again. This time we deliberately went a bit late, thinking the lunch crowd would have left the restaurant. We were sadly mistaken as there was a long queue outside the restaurant. However, not to be deterred, we joined the queue and managed to get our seats after 25 minutes.
My wife had the Premium Charasi don and myself the Unagi don. At $24.80 the Premium Charasi don was quite expensive. The Unagi don was at a reasonable $15.80. For all Charasi don the base was sushi rice whereas for Unagi don, California rice was the base.
Taste wise, the Premium Charasi don was good but the Unagi don was not up to my expectation.

Chirashi don@ Sushiro for lunch

The Chirashi don at Sushiro Restaurant (Thomson Plaza) is one of the finest and cheapest in Singapore. The Q is usually long even before opening time. Besides the above, you may also find other types of Japanese food like Unagi don, donburi, sushi, sashimi etc.

We had the above for lunch today. The Chirashi don lunch set with miso soup and salad is $15.80 each. If you do not want the lunch set but just the bowl of Chirashi don, it will cost you $12.80. There is no ++. Besides being inexpensive, the taste and quality of the food is first class.
The small restaurant can only sit 20 people at any one time so be prepared to wait in the queue.

After lunch, we proceeded to nearby Yakun Kaya for our kopi O. The place is deserted and quiet during lunch time.

My childhood neighbours Ali and Fatimah

It was a big relief when Uncle Lim  and family moved out. The next tenants were Abang Ali and Fatimah. This Malay couple was in their forties without children. They were nice and friendly.
My late grandma and I became quite close to Abang and his wife. They would invite us over to their house for tea and chat with us. They were always at home as they were unemployed.
The best thing I liked about them was when they organized card games. They would invite a few more neighbours and we would spend the night playing card games. I really enjoyed my time with this couple. It wasn't just the card games only but the fun, jokes and laughter we had together.
After a few years, Abang and Fatimah moved out to another place. The whole neighbourhood missed them dearly.

Malaysia's Bersih Rally, Spaghetti and Futomaki

To find our more about Bersih click here

Today's spaghetti lunch

Home-made futomaki or sushi roll from Japan

Futomaki is a type of rolled sushi that is known for its large size and careful balance of ingredients. People who think of sushi as just raw fish are often very surprised by the care and artistry that goes into these rolls. They are usually filled with different colored vegetables and may not even contain fish at all. Chefs design futomaki to be both delicious and pleasing to the eye, and they often choose ingredients for how well they balance with each other both in taste and looks.

Korean spicy noodles for supper

Oyakodon, Bacon Aglio Olio & Dumpling Soup

Lunch@ home & Texas Chicken for dinner

Once in a while, I like to eat fast food from McDonald's, KFC, Texas Chicken, Fat Boy Burger, Carl's Jr Burger etc. My favourite from McDonald's is the Classic Cheese Angus Beef burger. As for the fries, I prefer Texas Chicken's as they are larger and tastier. Fat Boy and Carl's burgers are a bit more expensive and taste wise are not much better than McD's Classic burger.
I prefer KFC to Texas as far as the chicken meat is concerned.

Today's meals...not so healthy?

Lunch was sushi at Sushi Express and dinner was Classic Cheese Angus Beef Burger at McDonald's.
The burger was excellent and cost only $8.95 a piece. If you want the meal set it costs $10.95. The cheese literally melt and the Angus beef was pure 100% beef. I added another $1.10c for a regular cup of Mochaccino from McCafe.

My kampong neighbours

Uncle Lim looked fierce and cruel to me. His step daughter Mary would surely agree with me. Uncle Lim, his wife  Auntie Lim and the 6 year old Mary were my neighbours.
We used to live in a kampong and it was quiet and peaceful until the Lim's family became our next door neighbours. Fortunately for us, they only lived there for a year.
Certain things in life, one could never forget even though they may have happened many years ago.
The story I am going to relate happened when I was about 10 years old.
Uncle Lim was about 30 years old and his wife was 5 years younger than him. He was unemployed but his wife struggled to keep the family of 3 going. Auntie Lim worked as a dance hostess at the old Happy World Cabaret in Geylang.
Almost every evening, a trishaw rider would come and transport Auntie Lim to the Cabaret. She would come home very late in the night.
Whenever Auntie Lim was at work, Uncle Lim would beat up Mary for the slight wrong she did. Mary would cry and screamed and pleaded for the neighbours to help her but no one dared to help her. Next day we would see the red cane marks on Mary's hands and legs.
Mary was Uncle Lim's step daughter. We did not know what had happened to Mary's father. We suspected that Mary's father was either killed or imprisoned for being a gangster.
I noticed that Uncle Lim was a body builder. He was seen to spend a lot of time lifting weight. He was big built and a bully. As a child, I was always afraid of him.

Lunching at home

Lunch was ma bo tofu, mushrooms + veggies and rice. Simple but satisfying and healthy.

Fighting spiders, my childhood favourite pastime

In the old days we do not have computers or any of today's social media gadgets. In fact, during my childhood days, television didn't even exist in Singapore. I am talking about the 1950s. As kids, our playthings were kites, fighting spiders, tops, rubber bands, marbles etc.
Today, I want to talk about one my favourite hobbies, fighting spiders.
Catching fighting spiders and letting them fight with other boys' spiders were one of the most thrilling pastimes for me. Besides, if your spider was a good fighter, it might even earn the title of "King Spider" in the kampong (village). To be the "King", your spider must be victorious in all the fights against spiders owned by other boys.
I used to catch the spiders in the bushes. Only male spiders fight so we did not catch the female spiders. The male ones had faces that were white in colour and the female black. We looked for leaves that were stuck together and in between them you might spot the spiders. We would use our hands and cupped the leaves and spread them on the roadside and the spider would jump out. We would then place it in an empty match box or a small container.
A "King" spider could fetch as much as 50 cents in my kampong. 50 cents was a lot of money back then especially for kids like us. 50 cents could buy us 5 plates of fried noodles in the school tuck shop. Besides, we would be very proud to be the owner of the "King".
Above is the video of the intense fighting between 2 spiders that I was talking about.

Bak chor mee (minced meat vinegar noodles)

Bak chor mee is a type of noodle dish that is served with minced pork. Bak chor mee means minced meat noodles with a bit of vinegar in Hokkien. This yummy mee is being sold in a coffee shop at block 446A, along Jalan Kayu (next to a Buddhist temple).
We had the above for breakfast.

A big disappointment with satay at Chong Pang

Had satay while we  were at the Chong Pang hawker center. Ordered 15 sticks of mutton,chicken and pork and a ketupat (rice). This stall's satay used to be good but has now joined the other stall whose satay was below par. At least 3 sticks of the satay were tiny (60c each) and some were badly burnt. There are only 2 stalls selling satay and I think I will not patronize them anymore.

A nice cool morning

Woke up to a wet and cool morning. The outside temperature is about 27.3 C which is cool by Singapore standard.
I thought to myself how fortunate we are as we do not have to go out and work.
I just heard on the radio that one of MRT (train) lines has been disrupted causing some inconvenience to the passengers who were going to work. The train breakdowns are frequent compared to those in some other countries like London, New York, Tokyo etc. Singapore train networks are relatively new when compared to those in countries that I've mentioned.
Driving to work can be frustrating too. The roads or so called expressways are usually jammed with all sorts of vehicles. There are about 1 million vehicles in this tiny island of Singapore.
Therefore, we are glad and lucky not having to travel to work.

Lunch at home

We had our lunch at home. It's a simple lunch comprising of nikujaga, fried chicken and a small bowl of Japanese rice.

Today's meals

After a plateful of watermelon and black coffee from Toast Box for breakfast, lunch was the prawn mee which was cooked by my beloved wife. Sssh...the soup wasn't as delicious as when I cooked it. It was mild and does not have sufficient salt in it. Not much kick but healthy.
Dinner was char siew, siew yok and roasted duck rice ($5.50 each plate) at a coffee shop stall near our place (quite good). After dinner, we decided to visit the 7-11 convenience store for the Magnum ice cream ($4.20).

Papaya and Oyakodon

Had half a papaya for my breakfast and home prepared Oyakodon or Japanese chicken and egg rice bowl for late lunch. No dinner for today because I had two McDonald's double cheese burger for last night's dinner. Just have to discipline myself otherwise my weight will shoot up.