Someone hatched a rain on us

We’ve been putting off going to Hatched for a couple of weeks already, so we decided that we should head there, rain or shine. As I always say, be careful for what you wish for, because it did indeed rain on us, and quite heavily too.

Headed to Westmall in the early afternoon as I had to purchase a phone for my mom. Finally ended up with a Nokia E63 thanks to a guy who opened the box and decided that he didn’t want the phone. We then headed to purchase Soul Calibur for Stella’s PS3 so that we could play it in the evening.

Us at the busstop before it started raining:

It began raining heavily so we were forced to take a cab into Evans Road, where Hatched was located. Ended up there almost an hour from the reservation time. The place was relatively empty save for a couple of aunties who spent the time bitching about their daughter in laws.

Halloween Hatched and the view from inside. I kinda liked the chairs. They were pretty comfortable:

Us:

My chicken-killer in crime, with the blackboard behind her showing the various specials for the day. The place used a pretty rustic decor which made it feel really cosy. Loved the half lit bulbs as well.

Root beer! Man, it’s been a while since we’ve had A&W rootbeer. Still one of the better ones as compared to Dr. Pepper and even Bundaberg imo.

I ordered the Vegetable Melt. A muffin topped with cheese, mushrooms, caramelized onions and avocado. Stella loved the mash, which was topped by a blended mushroom sauce. Lovely.
For those who do not yet know, Hatched is a concept cafe serving all sorts of dishes that have to do with eggs. They do have non-egg related dishes there, as in my vegetable melt above, but the main bulk of the menu items use eggs. Stella had the cheese omelete on toast. This was okay, and I loved the thickness of the toast.

Potatoes stuffed with scrambled eggs and roe. Frankly, for 10 bucks, this was a little blah for the both of us. I frankly thought I was getting large potato skins, not these baby ones. Disappointing indeed.
Finally, we had pancakes as a ‘dessert’. This was really good. Simple fluffy pancakes topped with strawberries and caster sugar. Stella had been wanting to have pancakes for some time already, and this really satisfied her – and I as well.

We headed down to town later to do some shopping, but ended purchasing nothing much. On the way, we stopped by Muji and grabbed some stationeries and snacks. There was this packet mango pudding thing that was pretty delicious. Came in one of those “suck packets” and all you needed to do was to draw out the pudding by sucking on the straw. Although it was nothing much, it was one of those things that just makes you happy – eating delicious mango pudding through a straw.

Funny faces:

As it was getting late, we headed to Shinjuku for a quick meal. Again, we were surrounded by Japanese men who spoke about things which we had no idea about. Again, we were seated in the same small corner by the back door. Somehow that gave the whole eating experience a nice sort of familiarity. I had the ramen while Stella had the miso Saba set and both were delicious. I really should try the saba set the next time.

After taking a long bus ride back to CCK, we picked up Overlord 2 from Lot 1 and headed home to play our games. First, we drew up a 500 point army for Stella’s Black Templars. After that was done, Stella promptly proceeded to trounce my ass in every single match in Soul Calibur, and we switched over to Overlord 2 after a while. I probably can say now that I am better at rolling dice than button mashing. Sadly, I got one of those terrible giddiness once again from playing Overlord, and I had to sit aside for a bit while the girlfriend continued with the game. We then ended the night with supper with Stella and her mom at Al Hazar.

And here concludes one of our ‘Bao Ka Liao’ days, and it was really fun just doing all the things that we always liked doing. Although it was in small chunks, it didn’t make it any less enjoyable. Great way to end the week, and the semester.

Casual(poet) friday – sweet dreams are made of these…

This Friday, we decided to spend the afternoon at Casual Poet. This was a place that Stella discovered while surfing some time back, and the last time we came, it was in the evening and we stayed for a little while. Since we both thought that it was a nice place to chill, Casual Poet was our choice of venue.

Lunch @ Don Quijote

Stella and I headed to Don Quijote nearby my place for lunch on Friday. We’ve been talking about Spanish food for some time, and we thought that it would be nice to try out this place for a change. After all, there has been some decent reviews about the place and we were both craving for some paella.

Toasted bread with herb butter. This came as one of the complimentary starters.

The interior of the place. Pretty nice bar counter. I’m sure that it would look much nicer in the evenings.

We ordered the pumpkin and leek soup. Pretty good. Had a bit of the sweet nutty flavour from the pumpkin, and it was just the right consistency for me. Stella felt it was not thick enough, but the flavour was certainly there.

Berenjenas al Horo (or Oven-baked Eggplant) . This was a bit of a surprise. I think I expected it to be -well- an oven grilled eggplant. So I wasn’t expecting it when it came in a pot, in some kind of vegetable stew. That’s not to say that it didn’t taste good, because it did. I loved the stock base and drank lots of it. I think the soup was some kind of white wine soup with celery and tomatoes, something like what clams/mussels would be cooked in. Damned delicious.

And finally, what we were waiting for – the paella. This was GOOD. We had a choice over wet and dry versions of the paella and we chose the wet one. I suspect dry just means that they leave it in the oven for a longer period of time. Some may like it drier so that they can scrape the burnt rice off the bottom of the pan after. I know I like to do that. However, I loved the wet version and definitely would prefer it to the dry one. The clams and mussels were fresh too, so this was really good. I would definitely come back just for this.

I think after trying a couple of Spanish places in Singapore (Tapas Tree, Esmerelda), this has to rank as the current top choice of the lot for me. I hope to return to try out the other kinds of tapas with Stella in the next trip. I don’t know why they were so empty during the lunch hour – perhaps not many people have found this place, or it could be due to the location. Well it just means more space for us then.

Us, full and happy after our little Spanish feast.

Joochiat adventure

Friday was the day for our Joochiat adventure! Although we were supposed to head there last week for one of our regular food hunts, we put it off. This week, we decided to head down for some durians and to explore some of the stuff that people have said were famous there.

Before all that, we headed down to Borders to get some stuff. I bought a copy of the PHB 2, and Stella got herself To Kill A Mockingbird. Headed to the Borders Bistro after for a drink and a snack before meeting up with Keane and Serene for dimsum dinner at Victor’s Kitchen.

Stella the happy camper:
The fateful smoothie. It was great stuff. Unfortunately the glass that we got had pieces of paper/sticker in it. I was constantly sucking out pieces of it, and finally I took it up to the manager who replaced the glass of drink for me. I suspect it was one of those brand stickers on the fruits that got into the blender. Whatever it is, that was fine – we actually got a free glass of smoothie out of it.
Tuna and cheese melt. Thought it was really value for money for about 12 bucks.
Next up, we headed down to Bugis for some shopping, before meeting up with Keane and Serene at Victor’s Kitchen at Sunshine Plaza. This was a place that Stacey’s friend recommended to us some time back, and it has sat pretty high in terms of its ‘dodgyness factor’ as well as the quality of the food.
When we left Bugis, it was around 9. We took a train down to Aljunied and the first stop were the durians. It was just a street down from the MRT station, and we had to make our choice over another stall which we first encountered. We skipped that when we observed not many people eating there. Turns out that the entire row of fruit stalls were owned by the same people. Doh. Had the Mao Shan Wang durians, for something like $18 per kg. This one was a 2kg durian, and we promptly set about demolishing it. Great stuff. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten so much durian in my life before.
Stella looking very happy with her durians:
Next up, we headed down for some beancurd with youtiao (deep fried dough fritters). Frankly, I wasn’t expecting much from this because I’ve more or less tasted both before. I mean, beancurd? done that. Youtiao? done that too obviously. But man, this shit was good! Somehow or another, the combination of flavours (read: oil) were just right there. Totally hit the spot on that one.

Rochor Beancurd – the place where we had the good stuff:

Stage 2 – complete!
For the final leg of the food hunt, we walked down a little to the place they call 126, or wan tok sek. Supposedly it means something like ‘found a place to eat’ in Cantonese. We heard that the establishment was good for its dim sum, so we headed in for some. The general crowd eating outside was quite a good indicator that we had reached the right place. Sat outside for a bit before heading in – good decision since there was air conditioning inside (I wonder why non of those people outside realised that).

Had the paper wrapped chicken:
A smallish crab steamed with garlic:

Final verdict : wellll…. I didn’t think that it was that fantastic, really. It was cheap, truly, but it wasn’t something I would travel all the way to Geylang for. I think Stella feels the same about this place too. We would head back to Victor’s anytime for dimsum. The redeeming factor would probably be the fact that 126 has a pretty extensive menu, so there’s lots to try.

We then headed back home by bus. The crawlers of the night were just about to emerge, and Geylang started to unveil itself for what it was most famous for. Both of us were tired, but really happy that we managed to explore someplace new this week. We’ll be back to look for some of the other dishes that we missed out this round. We chatted and joked on the bus as we rounded off the night and the week in the best possible way – just a quiet time with the best company one can have in the whole world.

birthday week (continued)

Day before my birthday, we met up with the guys for drinks at Walas. Although The UneXpected wasn’t playing that night, we still had a good time just chilling out and listening to the replacement band for the night. They weren’t half bad. Apparently they were some 60s old men rockers, and they could really play the stuff we requested from them.

It was nice just hanging out together, and Stella and I enjoyed their company for the night.

Some pictures for the night. Had to put the 4 person one in the centre as Hong was too “broad”:

All of us:

The following day, we had a gathering at my place. Stella had previously arranged for Andy and Keane to come back on the 20th to celebrate my birthday. Was really touched that she went through all that effort to get all the gaming people in one place. Also, this was special to me because it was my first birthday party ever. I don’t think I’ve ever organised a party for my own birthday before and it was something different for a change.

Prepared some food courtesy of Stella’s mom, and had some other food that my mom prepared earlier in the day. I booked the function room downstairs and prepared for the gathering.

Us before the party:

The food:

Waiting on the couch for the guests to arrive:

Andy grabbing a bite, with Tin watching on :

Keane and Serene who flew in from Wellington:

Stella, Serene and Tin:Me with Keane, Serene, Elton and Sheena:

After eating, we brought out the boardgames. For the night, we decided to play BSG since it was a group favourite. Also, we wanted to get Keane and Serene to try it to see if they liked it.

Shang arranging the cards. Andy and Jon hanging around:

Hong and Jingyi

Sheena and Elton, Keane and Serene. Learning the game.

Me and the beloved organiser of this party :

Unfortunately, we had to evacuate the place by 11, so we headed out to cut my birthday cake.

Everyone pooled in money to buy me my very own copy of Space Hulk! Been hearing all sorts of good stuff about it but was hesitant about spending the money on it since it was a whopping 149 bucks for a single game. Stella jumped on the opportunity when she heard me mention it to her a couple of months back, and she made a pre-order for it from PI. Thanks baby! Truly a geeky present, and I really liked it very much. Thanks everyone!

The guys:

The girls:

After that, it was more BSG. We finished the game at a nearby void deck. In the end, the Cylons won, but it was a good game all in all.

Most of the people departed from there, but Keane stayed for a bit to join Elton, Sheena and Stella and myself for a game zombie killing in Last Night on Earth. Definitely one of the better zombie games out there. From there, we parted ways, and there ends my very geeky and special birthday party. I had a great night, and if not for Stella, I would never have gone out to plan something like this for myself. Thanks so much dear, for the effort you’ve put in =) And finally, thank you friends, very much for making my day.

Birthday dinner with lala

Early on the 19th, I recieved a card from Stella. She had stayed up almost all night to make it. Written on it was a funky message for me.It was a really nice pop up card complete with our pictures and a nice little message with it. Despite her claims that her art isn’t good, I really liked it a lot. Thanks dear!
After hanging around, we headed out for dinner. Dinner was at a nice little Japanese place called Chako, located around the Hong Leong Gardens area. I really loved the place. Stepping inside, it was almost as if I were transported to 70s Japan (although I’ve never been to Japan). This was complete with old Japanese music playing through the cassette player in the background.
Inside with the counter behind me :

Black Tea :
The sake has eyes. They stared at us all night.
Sishamo:
Sashimi Platter. Really good, although it really filled us even before the main courses came. Really great stuff anyway.
We had to wait for quite a bit for the main courses to come (apparently this was the warning when we checked out reviews online), but the food was really great. Stella had the pike mackerel set, and I had the unagi set.

Stella looking cool and funky with her food:

Really delicious. I’m a fan of grilled unagi, but this one was broiled with egg and sesame oil. The flavour was not overpowering but it was so freaking fragrant. Really awesome stuff man. I would gladly come back for this anytime. One thing about Japanese food that I appreciate is its simplicity.

The both of us:
Next, we headed down to Rochester for some desserts. Funnily enough, the band that we’ve been looking for all this while were playing there. Drawn in by their voice, we ended up at One Rochester for a beer and some dessert. Was nice just listening to music and enjoying each other’s company.

What a great night =)

If I could travel in time, I would eat lots of sushi.

Another great night with the girlfriend, doing the things we like to do. Watched The Time Traveler’s Wife, shopped a bit before heading for dinner. Dinner was on the pricey end, but we ate a whole lot of delicious food and I totally didn’t mind spending on food. There is some enjoyment to be derived from paying a premium on something sometimes. Was glad that Stella got to have her Uni sashimi, something which we would not get so frequently over here.

Look how delicious it is! Now I better get down to exercising.

Shinjuku Izakaya

Damn, this has got to be one of the best meals we’ve had in a while. While looking out for some place to have some sake after a little ‘dinner’ of blood cockles and lala, we chanced upon this little hole in the wall place in Cuppage that Stella claims resembles the authentic izakayas that she had a chance to visit in Hawaii. The mood was complete by the fact that we were greeted with a very polite “konbanwa” by the lady boss the minute we entered, and the fact that we were the only Singaporeans when we were seated.

We ordered a couple of side dishes, and washed it down with hot sake.

Edamame:

Rows of various kinds of sake/ japanese alcohol:

Deep fried shrimps. Lightly salted and crispy. Fantastic with beer I’m sure.

Our sake. They utilized this simple but effective system of keeping the sake nice and warm. Basically a metal flask is placed inside a concrete/stone container which is in turn inside a wooden container, preventing the heat from escaping.

A very happy girlfriend =)

Ika sashimi, with real grated wasabi.

Shishamo

Finally, we were still itching for some food, so we ordered a mini ramen. Turned out to be fantastic stuff, for just 6 dollars. The soup was nicely salted, and the flavours from the meat and bamboo shoots were so nicely integrated into the whole dish. Really good. I might have one of that myself if I weren’t too full by the time.

After dinner, we headed to the Apple store to get Snow Leopard, but stocks hadn’t arrived at that time yet so we just headed home. What a nice way to end the uber long week that we both had. Although the bill was above the average amount that we were used to paying, there’s some added joy gained from paying for something good once in a while, and this was definitely one of those instances. We’re definitely coming back.

Friday, bloody Friday

This Friday, we had one of our bi-weekly cycling days. Planned to head to ECP for an afternoon of cycling and dinner at Bedok 85. Set off a little earlier as we had some errands to run. Headed first to SP to settle Stella’s boating license. We were hungry so we had our lunch there while we were at it.

After lunch we headed down to ECP by train. We’ve gotten to the habit of taking a taxi down from Bedok as the only bus that takes us to ECP is a ridiculous 40 minute ride for such a short distance. Well, it wasn’t very expensive anyway. Got to watch most of an episode of BSG on the way to Bedok, and we finished it when we got to ECP.

Us at Macs after finishing the episode:

Rented our bikes, and cycled for about 2 hours. This time we didn’t make many stops, so it was just a non-stop cycling trip along the way. Somehow or another we misjudged the distance and time it would take us to get back, so it was a bit of a rush getting back to the rental shop to return the bikes. thankfully they didn’t charge us any more for the extra time we took.

Bought some bubble tea, and sat down for a bit. The weather was really nice at that time, so the cool sea breeze was relaxing. Watched the sea crash against the sand, watched people going about and having their own fun. Nice. We even found some time for a small game that I recently uploaded to my ipod.

Our drinks, with the retarded looking mascots there. What are they? fish without tails? or bubbles from the bubble tea? Whatever they are, we ate them all.
Stella fiddling with her phone. Think she was smsing a friend or contacting a tuition agent.
We left around 6ish, and made our way towards Bedok 85. By the time we got there, we were starving, and set out to buy some food to eat.

Carrot Cake:
Waiting for food. The guy behind Stella had started talking to himself over his beer. Pretty entertaining:
The essential sugarcane juice with lemon:
We wanted to have some shellfish, so I went out and ordered some blood cockles and clams. We got a surprisingly large amount for 5 bucks a plate. Stella loved the blood cockles but not so much the clam so I think I ended up finishing most of it. We were given so much that we had trouble finishing it by the end of the night. Not only that, the bloody cockles (yes, literally dripping blood) frankly got a bit too much after a while. I’m hoping that I won’t die of cholesterol overdose, but it was a really good to just put health to the wind for a night and just enjoy ourselves.

We  also had a bowl of bak chor mee each. The girlfriend prefers the one from the stalls facing the outside area while I’m a fan of the Ah Poh one. We’ve come to the conclusion that the Ah Poh one has a tastier soup, while the other ones have better noodles. Can’t get the best of each I guess. Delicious anyway. The pictures were taken partly with Jasmeet in mind, and I think by now he would have already seen Stella’s blog. Although I’m not a patriot, I’m pretty darn confident that we have some of the best tasting foods in the world.
Me, my mee, and baldy:
You want some?
An insider’s look:
TGIF people.

cycling @ ecp

So despite all the fear about the rain, the cycling date went without a hitch. A little bit of strong winds, and that was about it. We didn’t get caught in the rain, and we had a brilliant lunch as well. I woke up about 7 to prepare the food for the picnic, and I nearly couldn’t make it on time. Accidentally destroyed one dish too (didn’t cook the bacon properly), but I had a bit of a rush before I left the house to meet the girlfriend.

One of the stop bys: Bedok Pier. Stopped to take some photos, watch men fish, and to take a couple of lomo-shots. Had about 5 more shots to end the roll so I brought the camera out. Pity that I didn’t think to bring out another spare roll would have been a nice opportunity for some good shots. Oh well.Our bikes overlooking the sea:
Us – before we got sunburnt:

Looking out for jellyfish. Didn’t get a shot of it, but we saw about two brown ones in total. Stella was so excited.
We returned our bikes after a 1.5 hour ride and headed quickly to one of the shelters. It was getting really windy and dark at that point. Was afraid that we wouldn’t make it to cover in time.
All the food! I prepared potato salad, some vegetable sticks with a french onion dip, and ham and cheese sandwiches. Of course, there’s always warm sake. Since we didn’t have hot water I had to improvise. I brought a pan and manually heated up water with a solid fuel flame. Not a very good idea and it takes way too long.
The dip that Stella loves so much. I think we practically drank it. Salt level alert. :
A very happy girlfriend with some finger food :
It was chilly, but very nice. At that point it had started raining, so the weather cooled down considerably. I was nice just sitting around and chatting.

After the picnic, we packed up and headed to Raffles City, where we sent the lomo rolls for developing, then shopped for a bit before heading home for dinner. Ended the night by watching Kingdom of Heaven together. All in all, a friday night unlike any other. I was glad that the whole cycling thing worked out, and it was a wonderful break just spending some time out with Stella and away from the stress of work for a bit.