Prasarana

New Malay word for today : Prasarana
Which means infrastructure

I would have thought that infrastructure would be infrastruksi or something to that effect, but there's actually a proper Malay word for it. I can't believe how bad my vocabulary has gotten. But then again, I don't remember hearing this word while I was studying in Malaysia.

Anyways, I decided to try to translate an article, which was written in Indonesian (which is quite close to Malay) today and it took me ages, because on top of the fact that I cannot literally translate it, I had to look up certain words to get the actual meaning. Just skimming through the article, you kind of get the gist of what it's trying to say, but to actually translate it, it's plenty of hard work!

Food Blog : Brotzeit

Wanted to have some sausages... ended up ordering a schnitzel! Talk about vast difference *grin* but I'm glad I did. On top of the veal schnitzel which they usually serve, they have decided to have pork ones too. I think in this country, the pork schnitzel is one better than the veal, not as dry.

Maybe it helped, but this particular schnitzel had bacon, mushroom, cheese, onions and parsley stuffed between the meat pieces... *yummo* This place serves yummy french fries too, coated with their secret spices. I can imagine sitting with a few pints of German beers, munching on them...

Bauern Cordon Schnitzel

So behind!

I'm so behind on my posts and I've just realised that I'm almost two months behind! I have titles written with no content, half written blogs with no titles and on some days, I don't even know what I was supposed to write about!

My only excuse... Korean drama... no, make that, addictive Korean drama! Now that I've finished one, I'll try to update as many posts as I can before my brain starts to itch for another one *grin*

Air-condition

Our air-condition is starting to break down. The one in the lounge is no longer useable, it has been sitting there unused for the longest time... since someone complained of the racket it was making and management told us to get someone in to have a look at it. The one in the master bedroom especially, has required more looking into whenever the servicing people are around, twice the gas had to be topped up, which is not a good thing. Once I even caught a glimpse of the wiring above the false ceiling... the insulation has been rotting off and condensation has been dripping onto the false ceiling.

Oh, well, it has served us well, I think. The life span of an air-condition these days is around five years, right? Gone were the days where air-con units stuck out the hole in a wall of the house, those lasts for eons! These days, they don't make them like they used to! But then again, maybe we should really get it regularly serviced... as it is, we only get it serviced twice a year, if we remember, or when the ceiling starts to leak :P

Food Blog : Fish & Co Clementi Mall

Utterly disappointed with today's meal at Fish & Co. After having to clean up the veins from the last meal, I can't believe we actually stepped into this place.

The Clementi Mall was recently opened, another hub with heaps of people streaming through as the mall links to the MRT and bus stations. Nothing else looked appetising and the food court didn't have enough seats to cater for the amount of people milling through it, the hubs and I decided to have dinner here.

Pros
Got our table changed quickly because the air-conditioning was leaking
The hubs ordered the swordfish collar and knowing that it takes a long time to cook, we asked for the chips to come out first

Cons
The air-conditioning was leaking above us
16 sticks of chips came out with one looking rather sorry
Service crew looked like they were new to the business
The person who's wiping tables shouldn't be the one handling new cutlery and napkins
Both our glasses of water weren't properly washed and the hub's one had what looked like a piece of charcoal on the side
Lemon wedges are no longer served with calamari or fish (since when?!)

Looks like we won't be visiting them anytime soon!

16 sticks of chips

A day in MBS

Has it been more than a year? Let me just check that... yes, it's been more than a year since the Marina Bay Sands (MBS) area was opened and the hubs and I just managed to spend a day there. It really has heaps to offer, now that the whole area is up and running. I remember when it first opened, there were hiccups (as a new place would have) and since we weren't interested in going into the casino, we've been putting visiting this place off for the longest time. Well, having taken a weekday off from work, it was the best possible day to visit, sans the casino even!

The MBS area is made up of a three over 50 storey high tower hotel with over 2000 rooms, large convention centers, a sky park on the 57th floor, theater, a casino, a shopping mall and outside, an art science museum and the Helix pedestrian bridge.

Taken from the Art Science Museum looking back at the MBS and shopping mall

Art Science Museum
What's unique about this museum is that it is shaped like a lotus. Circular and not very big, it spans over 3 levels of exhibition space. Dali is being shown currently and I must say that I was impressed with the exhibition.The last time I went to a proper Dali exhibition was back in the year 2000 while visiting London, the tiny one in Brugge recently doesn't count. Two other exhibitions are on at this time, Van Gogh and Shipwreck. I felt it was quite pricey at S$30 per person, but if you purchase a combination ticket with entrance to the Sky Garden, there's a S$5 discount.

Entrance to the Art Science Museum with Dali's Melted Clock

The Lotus of the Art Science Museum

A night view of the Art Science Museum

Theater
The Lion King is showing at the moment. The original season was supposed to finish at the end of May, but seeing that the response has been great, they've extended this season for another two months. Again, not expecting much as it's not in the same class of musicals as The Phantom and Les Miserables, I was pleasantly entertained throughout the show. The storyline and music were all taken from the movie, so anyone who had watched it would know what to expect. A small stage, which made the scenes more focused and the live band, hidden from everyone's view was superb. The characters would come onto the stage from behind, running down the aisles and the props! They were the most eye-catching of all, especially the head gear of Scar and Mufasa.

Shopping mall
In a country as small as Singapore, most of the international brand shops were only located on Orchard Road, the shopping belt of this country, but with the opening of the MBS, they now have a branch here. The layout is almost like Ion where big brands are located on levels one and two and local/smaller brands are located on basements one and two. There's a man-made canal running through a small part of the mall, maybe only 100m long where they provide 'sampan' rides for a fee. I guess they wanted to remind people that the Venetian is also a part of the Sands group.

Sampan rides

Dining
There are a couple of popular restaurants located where the general public can access, and a few within the casino area where guests with entry to the casino can access. There is also a food court, an upmarket one, or one that tries to be upmarket, called Rasapura Masters. It didn't hit me in the beginning that the name was all wrong for a food place that serves food from around the Asian region. Only until I ate my first mouthful of a dish that was supposed to be from KL, did it hit me that they were truly rasapura masters. 'Rasa' means taste and 'pura' means fake in the Malay language, so putting them all together, it's maters of fake taste! And sadly enough they were so spot on for that.

The Helix Bridge
After walking the bridge, I'm still not in awe of it. It's supposed to be constructed ingeniously with the shape of the double helix holding the bridge together, but I still don't see it.

The Helix Bridge

Sky Park
Located up on the 57th floor with an entrance fee of S$20 per person, it really gives a great bird's eye view of the central business district and surroundings. With the purchase of the Art Science Museum ticket, there's a discount of S$5. Lucky for us, it was a clear day. Managed to see far, far into the horizon and there weren't many people blocking access to the edge.

An eastern view from the Sky Park

Food Blog : Fish balls

I'm not a big fan of fish balls. I almost never order them when I'm out, unless I'm recovering from a bout of diarrhea, but look at this!?! Wasn't particularly hungry today, so I ordered a bowl of only fish balls from the Food Opera at Ion. I can't believe I ate 8 of these balls... had to get the hubs to have the rest... just couldn't stomach it. Not that they were yucky, they were actually better than the ones we had at the Singapore Food Trail last week, but it was just one too many fish balls for me!

Fish balls

F1 : Canada

AWESOME!!! I can't believe this Formula 1 race in Canada. What started out to be a boring race has turned into a wet, slippery, incident and accident-full race! Luckily I didn't stay up to watch it last night (this morning), caught the highlights instead. There was a 2 hour wait-out for the rain to stop, visibility was near zero on the race track according to Vettel who was in the lead, what more everyone behind him receiving the spray from his tires!

With the track being wet initially, a couple of cars got smashed and it was with joy that I watched Hamilton crash out. Sadist? No, I just don't like the way he raced. The winner, Button, was driving a good race, coming up from last to win the race has to be saying something, right?! It was Vettel who caved under pressure at the last lap, swerved too wide and Button took the opportunity to overtake and the rest... is history! I wonder what's instore for us in the next race!

Vein-y Prawns

I don't know why I keep doing this to myself, but I do. The hubs and I ended up at the Jurong Point Fish & Co for lunch today and it was a really bad batch of prawns. The chef didn't clean the veins out, so when it came all grilled to me, the veins were sticking out thick and black. Used my warm water to wash the last few... that's how bad it was. Luckily the waiter asked me to fill in a survey... now I wonder if they do read their surveys as this is not the first time I'm complaining about the vein-y prawns!

Food Blog : The Ship

There's a new shopping complex opened called The Nex. It's located in the Serangoon area and above a MRT station. I don't know how we did it, but the hubs and I managed to spend 6 hours here. Could be because I was looking for a cover for my phone, having dropped it the other day and cracked the old cover. I managed to find one, leather, hopefully it will last longer than the 10 months the previous one did *grin*.

Anyways, the shopping complex... huge! There are four floors above ground and two under, but not a lot of different shops as compared to the other dozen of shopping malls littered all over Singapore, but there was a shop called King & King Wong. Catchy, huh? They sell household items in its two storey shop within the mall. Didn't get to walk through the whole shop as I wasn't looking for household items. If you're looking for out of the ordinary glass decorative cupcake stands, interesting jars, vases, glass plates, cutlery or curtains, this would be the place to go.

Right, this is a blog about food. The Ship. I can't believe the restaurant chain is still around. When I was little and living in Malaysia, my family used to go to this restaurant to celebrate our birthdays. It was a treat! And I remember that I always ordered the chicken maryland. It was called that on the menu and it's still called that on the menu! Although there's no bow of a ship sticking out from where the restaurant is, they try their best with the interior, the hubs mentioned that it smelled like a boat... probably dipped the ropes in kerosine or something...

So halfway through the meal, I start to think... was it ever this many things on the plate? There's a bit of bacon, some corn, grilled potatoes, broiled carrots, a corn pancake and the breaded chicken itself! That's a lot to eat for a kid, isn't it? Maybe my parents took a lot of the other stuff from our plates... hmm... Anyways, the chicken was nicely done, good portion and I managed to finish the plate up. Was actually wondering what happened to the bread sticks, which weren't served here... I vaguely remember chomping on the bread sticks while waiting for our main meal to come.

Chicken Maryland

Food Blog : Singapore Food Trail

If it weren't for an IRC gathering, I don't think the hubs and I would even know this place existed. Recently opened (late Feb 2011) the Singapore Food Trail was established to revitalise a dying market of olden day reminiscing. That's the thing that hit me while I walked through the place.

Can't say much about the food as I didn't get to try a lot of it... thinking that the East Coast Laguna food center serves better food... but this, Green Spot! It has been EONS since I last had one. It was so long ago that I didn't realise that it's actually a non-aerated drink! Startling sweet and served here in an old aluminum cup. I think the last time I had one was when I was a teenager! For those of you who have no idea what this is, it's similar to F&Ns Orange crush without the gas.

Green Spot!

Food Blog : db Bistro Moderne

A couple of days ago, I went to db Bistro at Marina Bay Sands for lunch and had a yummy time. Tried the French Burger which was loaded with a medium done beef patty, bacon, onions, and a sundried tomato sauce, I think. I asked to change the burger bun to a normal one as I wasn't sure the Black Pepper bun would be a little too spicy for me. All in all, the combination was yummy. For dessert, I tried the Strawberry Pistachio mousse tart, yum o yum! Apologies, no pictures as the company I was with didn't allow for pictures, maybe the next time I'm there.

Food Blog : Shokudo Raffles City

Usually on the weekends, our food timings are all screwed up because we wake up late, have breakfast, wait 5 hours before lunch, which is usually around 2 or 3 and then wait another 6 hours before dinner. Anyways, today was one of those days. We were out shopping around the city hall area and didn't want to go back before having dinner coz we know we'll not want to come out and end up having instant noodles. So we ended up at this Japanese market-concept-dining place.

The concept is similar to Marche, where we're given a card upon entry, you go around ordering what you want to eat and the people taking the orders will fill your card up with your order. At the end of the meal, you present your card to the cashier and pay.

I wasn't feeling particularly hungry, as it was only 4 hours after our last meal... so I decided to have dessert, waffles with banana and chocolate syrup. Can't say that it wasn't yummy, it was just too much fluffy batter but the banana was freshly peeled and sliced. Marche used to have waffles, and theirs were yummier. Can't compare to the ones in Belgium, of course, but we're not in that neck of woods, so I'll have to live with what I can find here.

Waffle with Banana and Chocolate syrup

Four bars in one night

Last night, we had a little going away drinks for a workmate who has decided to move on to greener pastures. Mind you, this was the first of my 'going away drinks' do and boy was I in for a treat! These dudes' idea of drinks is hopping from one bar to another, checking out the crowd at the same time and moving quickly when nothing's happening. It was a Thursday night, so the crowd was alright, people do come out to party on a Thursday night over here in Singapore.

I realised when I came back in the wee hours of this morning that four bars in one night is all I can take. It wasn't like in Australia where you'd hop from one bar to another and these bars being next to each other or down the road. Here, the bars that we went to were all in different areas about a 5 to 10 minute drive away. Luckily with Singapore being so small and the bars all located around certain areas, it was pretty easy hopping from bar to bar. As I was checking out the none too fantastic crowd, I kept wondering if these people actually have work to do, or if they would be able to function properly having had 3-4 hours of sleep. Maybe it has something to do with age... and I won't even go there *grin*

Food Blog : Island Cafe - Tangs

It has been many, many years since I last came up to the 4th floor of the Tangs shopping complex in Orchard. They've renovated it somewhat from how I remember it to be and the hubs and I decided to have tonight's dinner in the Island Cafe. It's a cosy cafe with a little Malaysian nostalgic atmosphere. The cafe serves mostly Malaysian dishes such as Chicken Rice, Curry Laksa and Kuay Teow.

We ordered the Kuay Teow and Black Pepper Soft Shell Crab Tung Fun. Yummy the dishes were, not too bad for pricey plates of hawker fare. The Kuay Teow was extremely oily towards the end, but they've added the right amount of black sweet sauce, so as to not drown the taste, and there's a little of the burnt wok taste to the noodles. Fresh seafood, always a good thing and some slices of chinese sausage.

Kuay Teow

Black Pepper Soft Shell Crab Tung Fun

Whatsapp

Whatsapp was finally available to download for free today and downloaded it I did!

Talk about cheapo, but I haven't paid for any of the applications that I have on my phone *grin* I guess good things do come to those who wait?