地点 ： 宏茂桥 (Ang Mo Kio)

豪乡海鲜小厨
BLK 158 Ang Mo Kio Ave 4
1． 双味鱼 / 2 Taste Fish S$25 (Crispy Fried Fish with special oyster sauce, and Water Boiled Fish with Assa sauce)
2． 金沙虾婆 / Golden Sands Crayfish S$18 (made with goat milk powder)
3． 沙皮鸡 / Sha Pi Chicken S$16 (each day only has 20 Sha Pi Chicken for sale)

甘家庄
BLK 202, Ang Mo Kio Ave 3
1． 东坡肉 / Dong Po Meat S$12 (pork cooked for 3 hours with special sauce and spring onion and ginger)
2． 金瓜奶王虾球 / Golden Pumkin Crispy Prawn Balls S$14 (Pumpkin sauce made with Mashed Pumpkin which has been steamed for 3 hours, butter, evaporated milk and curry leaves)
3． 金针菇豆腐 / Mushrooms with Tofu S$8.

Sources:
http://www.makansutra.com/forums/singapore/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=17075&p=268941
http://8.mediacorptv.sg/programmesdetail.aspx?iid=MDC090903-0000007

Planning to catch Up 3d in awhile and a walk via Imbiah’s 11th new attraction (after last week’s botanic garden visit, we’re in the nature mood!).

It’s not often that we decide to be “tourists” in Singapore and so when Yh suggested the Botanic Garden’s as a place to visit for the weekend, we decided to do it instead of the usual movie and meal in Orchard. Unfortunately, my body clock decided to play havoc and meant I was up at 4am! (3 hours before we were due to get up and set off for Singapore Botanic Gardens).

After a quick cab ride down towards Chuny road we were just in time to get breakfast and sign up for the Rainforest tour (held every 2nd saturday of the month).

Our guide for the day would be a school teacher who had an excellent knowledge about the various trees and plants dotting the boardwalk. It felt almost like a geography lesson with some rather knowledgeable participants chipping in little notes of interest about Australia and India. We also learnt that the patch we were walking through was a primary rainforest (i.e. one which had not been cleared before and thus was much more bare than a secondary forest which would be thicker).

How to spot an ailing rainforest?

• big patches of sunlight seeping through (the one we were in blocked up to 80% sunlight while a healthy one blocked up to 90+%)
• little or no fungi (we spotted some white fungus but it was only just starting)

There was small efforts being done to repair the damage to the rainforest like replanting trees along a path that was damaged by visitors when the boardwalk was not fenced and sprinkler systems to aid in the hydration. We also learned that the banana tree was in fact incorrectly categorized as it was actually a herb.

There was also an “Ah Beng” of the rainforest that had been imported but was thriving the expense of the native plants. There’s many more useful information that would definitely benefit folks who are interested in nature. We’re already planning to join the next tours that will focus on the Ginger and Orchid Garden as well as the Evolution trail.

After the hour tour, we ventured off on our own to the Ginger Garden where we caught sight of the ginger (Etlingera elatior – Torch Ginger) used in our much loved Singaporean Rojak.

Couroupita guianensis – Cannonball Tree was also fascinating due to the huge fruit it bore which resembled its namesake. The flowers were brightly colored and I wasted no time getting some very interesting macro shots of them (bugs included).

The Orchid Garden was next (SGD $5 adult admission fee) and there we spent lots of time walking around and snapping up photos of the various orchids in the well designed garden. Also noticed the frangipani flower above just resting on a bed of leaves just along the path.

Over at the Mist House, there was some rather well maintained varieties that really caught our eyes. The textured colors and bright purples was a delightful subject to photograph.

The Cool House also showed off the types of orchids that will suit a wetter and cooler climate with a refreshing waterfall and mist that surrounded us as we enjoyed the respite from the heat.

There was so many varieties of orchids that I’ve just highlight some of our favorites. Feel free to enjoy more of the photos over at the album. We’re already looking forward to the next visit back to the Botanic Gardens!

This is the year that I reached my milestone age – an age not that old yet, but not young anymore either; an age that I have associated with a special significance (’cause it is a milestone?) somehow. But yet, due to lack of time, it has took me almost 2 months to pen it down.

I always thought I should celebrate it with a Bang! But due to a shallow pocket and general laziness and busy-ness, one can hardly find the time to plan a memorable or unique way of celebration. Initially I thought to organise the run-of-mill chalet and BBQ thingy. When Mic knew about it, he was less than lukewarm about the idea. He rather spend the money to celebrate my birthday at his favourite ‘holiday’ site of Sentosa.

We decided on Siloso Beach Resort’s Roof Garden Terrace suite (with spa pool) as it looks quite good. I did not expect it to be cheap but the hefty price tag is still more than what I expected. But then I convinced myself that I’m worth it, after all, it’s a really special occasion.

As we get closer to the Day, I started to tell Mic out right what I want to do at Sentosa and wondering if I’m killing my surprise again. I think I did not get a cake from Mic for the past 2 years so I specifically told him I want a cake but I think I forgot to stress that I want it at 12am. When I reached home on the night before my birthday, I was rather disappointed that he was busy playing his computer games to pay me much attention. I decided not to jump the gun and wait and see with a book in bed, however I can’t help being a bit angry as well. Self-inflicted agony as usual.

Finally 12am rolled around. He came into the room and kissed me Happy Birthday. I responded with a pout. He took one look at me and said, “Orh, angry…” then went out to watch his TV.

!!!!!! @#$%&*#@$

Never mind… 我忍

Meekly, I went to him and asked, “Dear…where’s my cake?”

“Don’t have,” he replied, eyes still glued to the TV.

“Hmph!” I stormed off into the room and went to bed, wiping away tears of frustration and disappointment. Actually knowing Mic, I knew he should have prepared something for me the next day when we go to Sentosa and I know my surprise would be sweeter without expectations but I just want my cake at midnight and eat it too (pun intended).

The next morning, I woke before Mic and it wasn’t till I brushed my teeth and returned to the bed again that I noticed a present on my bed stand! Inside was a 4-sided photoframe with a Happy Birthday message, our itinerary in Sentosa, and a picture of cute sugar cows sitting on pretty cupcakes.

Later I learned that he did not get me XX (corresponding to age) cow cupcakes as I initially thought (oooh, how sweet would that be!). The picture was just something he picked up from the internet. But I did get my cake – nice chocolate cake from Bakerzin at Vivocity, that we cut and ate beside the spa pool (“It’s boring to have the cake at home,” Mic said in his defence). But I’m happy as I got my cake after all, hee hee. After all, it’s the thought and effort that counts.

We went to Fish Reflexology, something that I specifically requested as the last time we were there was a very interesting experience. I’m someone who has a very low threshold of pain and ticklishness so I was like stifling my shrieks and withdrawing my legs when the fishes are eating away at my skin or when the reflexologist is working on my legs. Hiak Hiak.

Next, dinner is on the itinerary. Mic had made reservations at a new and nice Japanese (fine-dining) restaurant, Santaro Japanese Restaurant at Amara Sanctuary Resort Singapore. My generous hubby decided to spoil me with the most expensive set dinner on the menu. The 10 course set dinner menu was not fixed but decided by the chef, therefore we are not too sure either what we had.

1) The first course was a tuna, ham and crabsmeat salad that was refreshing to the tastebud.

2) Next was something which I don’t eat but is one of Mic’s favourite food – oyster. Luckily, the oyster, though, presented in its shell, had been cooked. I absolutely cannot take the taste of raw oyster. The oyster was lightly grilled and so well marinated such that there is no smell and it tasted really really good. I guess it is the first time that I could stomach oyster.

3) The third dish was one of our all-time favourites – sashimi! We are not too sure what fish it was but the rest of the sashimi set comprised of prawns, cuttlefish and some meat. The prawns were too slimmy for my taste but the rest of the ensemble was great. The fish was firm yet melts in the mouth like butter as described by Mic. The meat item was quite different to me as I have not really tried raw meat before but upon biting into it, there was no raw taste. We wish there were more though as we absolutely love sashimi. Funny how I love sashimi so much now, it was only an acquired taste since 2003. After having finer sashimi, we know that we would never be truely satisfied by normal sashimi again.

4) Next was clear tuna broth served in this cute little cup that looks like a tealight holder. Hahaha. Basically the serving is so small that you could finish it in one mouthful. As it was fine dining, so we sipped it slowly to appreciate its (quite nice) taste. The soup texture was really very clear, no oil whatsoever.

5) The next dish marks the beginning of the ‘main course’. It was quite big! Grilled rock fish lightly grilled and seasoned with salt, served with radish. I think Mic was happy to see the fish as he loves fish.

6) This was both our favourite dish of the evening – Grilled goose liver with steamed turnips. Ooooh lala! Goose liver! And it is not bite-sized but looks like a small pork fillet. The outer layer is grilled to perfection yet the flesh is so tender and so juicy. I still miss it even now.

7) Such a big serving of chawamushi! And there is a big piece of shark’s fin inside. What’s not to like?

I’m usually not a great lover of tempura, but even I can tell that this tempura is so cripsy on the outside yet still soft and moist on the inside. Delicious.

9) Sushi is one other favourite of mine in Japanese cuisine. The variety of sushi served were traditional, professional (ie big piece of sashimi and little rice) and looks good. The fresh scallop was especially yummy.

10) Dessert was quite a non-event as Japanese cuisine is not big on desserts. Expecting green tea ice cream with red beans, it was quite surprising that we were served black sesame ice cream instead. The texture and taste of the ice-cream was quite good.

Thank you, dear, for the wonderful and memorable dinner.

We did not expect to spend such a long time at dinner and thus missed the first Song of The Seas show. Luckily, we were able to trade in our tickets for the second show. I was pretty disappointed with it though. It was too similar to the old musical fountain (free entry) and we still have to pay $6 for each ticket for this show!

After the half an hour show, we went back to the hotel and enjoy the spa pool on our private deck. Time to cut cake (see above)!

After the eventful day, the next morning was spent lazing around in bed after breakfast. Then all too soon, it was time to go home.

The service at Siloso Beach Resort could be better and I thought the reception seems a little too small and short-staffed to have a queue forming at check-in time. The room was also a bit small and the spa pool was without lights, which would have made night time dips more romantic. But the most important thing is i get to spend my birthday in a memorable way with my dearest.

Once again, Thanks, Darling for the lovely weekend, which we would remember for a long time to come.

Finally got some time to organize the photos taken from last Friday’s (17th August 2007) fireworks from Team Spain. We had managed to get seats at the Marina Bay floating gallery since Yh won tickets via Lianhe Zhaobao’s lucky draw.

The place was packed to the brim by the time we got into our seats. The weather that day wasn’t the best, with showers earlier on but luckily had cleared by the time the show started. After about a 30 minute wait and a lot of yammering by the MCs, the show finally got under way with a 15 minute light show first before getting on with the actual fireworks.

GoFlyKite was also around for a quick interlude before the fireworks and as usual, it was great spectacle as the kites lit up the night sky like fireflies.

The fireworks were a huge treat and way better than what we got from National Day. From our seats, we were captivated by the 3 platforms of fireworks that danced and lit the skies with furious explosions and patterns.

With the whole sky covered with fireworks, we almost couldn’t capture everything at a glance and my camera was kept busy as I captured each shot hoping to get some great photos. A lesson learnt at the end of the shoot was that I should just use manual mode and a mixture of settings instead of going automatic with the fireworks scene mode on the Canon S3 IS. This created a lot of noisy images. Luckily, some seemed rather nice like the one below with the red rings and lights.

After the 15 minutes of fireworks that left everyone with a great memory, we headed off back to Raffles MRT to catch a train back. Managed to get some shots along the way.

Singapore fireworks celebrations 2007

Originally uploaded by Michael Ong.

Just got into Marina bay floating gallery. Almost full house now. Was a bit of struggle getting in to traffic but we got pretty good seats!

After finishing up some work for the day, I headed out to meet Joseph at Raffles Place Mrt. We had wanted to set up near Merlion park but alas we forgot that the huge crowd would already be there! By 5.30pm, Fullerton, Merlion park, Esplanade bridge were already packed to the brim with people from all over. We spent about 30 minutes weaving through the crowd before finally heading to Marina Boulevard where similarly the huge field was already packed. Luckily, there were some open spaces left that allowed us to setup. Overall, managed to get some decent photos. The roar of the F16s overhead and the flag fly past was very well received although the cries of “SQUAT DOWN” just went to show how crowds behave.

There was a little gal perched atop her father’s shoulders who couldn’t resist posing for the cameras as she went on to wave her flag everytime she noticed a photographer snapping away. The hot air balloons that dotted the sky in the evening were beautiful as they floated in the bay (thinks this is one of the coolest addition to the parade).

The fireworks while nice seems rather short after Joseph’s experience in Japan where they had 2 hour long fireworks celebrations. We were both wondering how come fireworks can’t be set longer during national day, 30 minutes for photo taking seems more suitable.

Managed to get a nice photo of the Marina Bay as the crowd thinned out after the second fireworks session. Happy National Day Singapore!

Over the past few years, my interest in the National day parade hasn’t really been the strongest. Most of the time we (the family) would spend it by catching the parade on the tv but have never gone to attend the actual parade. However, after catching the rehearsal on 30th June, I’ve been thinking a lot more of going down on the actual day to catch the sights (and sound) from nearby locations. Yh sent me a list of possible places to go to

Esplanade waterfront
Esplanade bridge
Merlion park
One fullerton

Also, just saw the encore of “Parade on the Bay”, a one-hour documentary which takes a look at how a new venue for National Day Parade 2007 was chosen and the work that went into making it a reality. Was quite interesting to see how the different government agencies and companies came together to put the whole event together as hosted by Daniel Ong.

Looks like Yh and myself should be heading down to catch the sights and hopefully get a nice spot to take some snaps. Wonder if I’ll meet Bqube (just know him from Flickr) who happens to be studying in Singapore and wanted to experience the moment too. Will be looking forward to the fireworks too