Warren Buffett's quotes

Warren Buffett is obviously incredibly successful. He’s built his wealth long-term to over $89 billion (2018), making him one of the richest men in America. Warren lives by his certain set of values that he uses to invest and make other life decisions. He has some great advice that we can use to be successful.
Below are just 2 of his quotes that I like:


“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.”

“Honesty is a very expensive gift. Don’t expect it from cheap people.”

Nasi briyani in Singapore

This is one dish, the chicken briyani rice that I can't find in Japan. Perhaps, it is available in Toyko and could cost a bomb. In Singapore, it is about $6 at a coffee shop or hawker center.

Pig's trotter Japan versus Singapore

Tu kar or pig's trotter from Japan

Tu kar from SG

Missing hawker food and lunching with ex colleagues

While in Japan, I missed the spicy food in SG particularly dishes like the mee rebus, kway teow char etc. Although we could cook curries in Japan, it isn't the same as in SG. Of course, we do not cook char kway teow or Hokkien mee because some of the ingredients are not available. SG is still a good place for hawker food albeit they are not so healthy.
Yesterday, a few of my ex-colleagues and I had lunch. It must have been months since we last met. Everyone is in good health and enjoying their retirement.

This meal was from Seafood Kitchen, Elias Mall. The Sri Lakan crab is expensive ($54) but it tasted good. The San Lor horfun is worth the $6 paid.

A steak house in Japan

I was told the company that owns the popular "Pepper Lunch" is also the owner of this steak house (Ikinari). The steak is quite delicious and you order the amount you like to eat.
The price is reasonable. I don't quite like the seating arrangement as you may be assigned to sit close to another diner. You may also opt for the "stand up" dinning area. 

We spent our afternoon at a shopping mall and had steak for dinner. Dessert was the Japanese crepes which was offered at a huge discount today. They tasted good, both the steaks and dessert.

The shopping malls in Japan are somewhat similar to the ones in SG except that they are less crowded and provide free car parking lots.

Inexpensive,meaty fish head for assam pedas

You won't believe when I tell you we got the whole fish head plus some extra meat for only $1.90 or 150 Yen. Originally, it was going for 300 Yen but since there was an oversupply, the supermarket sold each for 150 Yen (tax included). It's not only inexpensive but fresh.
My wife cooked assam pedas with the fish head and as usual it turned out to be superb!

Gourmet Carnival Market

This market opens only on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It used to be crowded on Saturday and Sunday and the management offers a 10% discount on all the food and stuffs sold on Fridays. This is to encourage the Japanese to visit on Friday so Saturday and Sunday would not be too crowded.
The scheme backfired as there are more visitors on Friday
and Saturday and Sunday are like ghost towns.
The Japanese are price-sensitive and a 10% discount is a big deal.

Curry chicken in Japan

We brought A1 curry paste and cooked chicken curry today for lunch. Simply followed the instructions on the package and added the marinated chicken parts. In Japan, you can't find the whole chicken in the supermarket. Can only get chicken parts like wings, breast meat, thighs but not the feet nor neck which I love. We didn't add okra nor eggplant as we do not want the curry to be diluted.
Overall, the curry tasted good and we had a satisfying meal in the hot summer afternoon.

Meals on SIA's flights

One year ago economy meal

Same sector recently the meal tray is smaller

To be honest, there is no difference in meal quantity and quality. On SQ flights the food is always yummy.

Popular Japanese supermarket going bust?

A little known supermarket about 5 km from our house is very popular with the locals because things like veggies, sushi & sashimi, coffee powder/beans, bread etc etc are cheaper than most. An example of how inexpensive the things are, a freshly baked delicious bread (pic above) cost only S$3, a bottle of UCC 117 90 gram instant coffee is only $3.75 (cost $ 5 to $6 in other shops), a 2 kg whole fish is going for $12 (fresh enough to eat as sashimi).
We shop at this place quite often. The only setback is the overcrowding. It can be quite difficult to navigate one selves not only due to the crowd but many slow moving aged customers. The car parks are 90% full which is bad by Japanese standards.
We heard from the regulars that this supermarket is going to change hand soon. No one knows the reason for it to be sold off. My opinion is that it is not making money in spite of the crowd because they are selling things way below cost.😢

Michelin Star Japanese cup noodles

This Michelin Star cup noodles is sold in supermarket, konbini etc. We bought half a dozen and store them in case of emergency. This noodle is absolutely delicious although it may not be healthy. Who cares as long as one does not eat it often.

My friend's son passed away

My friend's son, a 37 years old young man had a heart attack and passed away. He was cremated yesterday. I felt sorry for not attending the wake as I am still in Japan.
My friend and his family is devastated. One consolation is that as Christians we have a hope and that is we will one day meet at Jesus's feet.

We had sushi for breakfast plus a plate of fresh salad and miso soup. The sushi was purchased from a supermarket in the early morning so as to make sure it is fresh.

Turtle-ling?

I went to the river near our house to do some fishing. Instead of catching fishes, I caught 3 turtles. They were about 2 kg each. These creatures were very greedy and took my squid baits. I released them back to the river. I did not have any luck with the fishes.

Along the Japanese highway there are ....