Dear Gara,
Thank you for your generousity.
Rest assured that your bottle of Baileys is in good hands.
Yours Truly,
The Quirkie Inebriate
*hic*
24 August 2007
The Perfect Night-cap
Dear Gara,
Thank you for your generousity.
Rest assured that your bottle of Baileys is in good hands.
Yours Truly,
The Quirkie Inebriate
*hic*
21 August 2007
Perfect Substitute #7: E-Blackboard
Those of you looking for restaurant grade food at cafe prices, look no further: E-Blackboard is the answer to our cheapie-foodie prayers. I would say that this is the perfect substitute to Overpriced Yuckyfood Establishments such as Cafe Cartel and perhaps Bakerzin. (Bakerzin's food is actually not half bad, but it's horrendously overpriced and they don't serve tap water, milking their customers for all they're worth. Makes me cheesed off.)
If you think this sounds rather like Botak Jones, I'd agree with you. The concept of E-Blackboard and Botak Jones is rather similar--good western food (and I don't mean the Singaporeanized coffee shop chicken chop with baked beans and fat fries type!) in the heartlands,affordably priced and zero ambience. To me, the main difference between the two is that Botak Jones delivers tasty comfort food for pigging out while E-Blackboard is good for finer food at daintier portions (but still filling) =) So each is good, just in a different way.
Check out this tempting dish =) The mashed potatoes were tasty and smooth while the grilled fish was still tender and juicy. At $8.90, it's worth every cent.
I tried their fish & chips which costs $6, which is the same price as Botak Jones' regular sized fish and chips. I much prefer Botak Jones' fish & chips as they use the Pacific Dory fish which has a cleaner taste, rather than Cream Dory which E-Blackboard uses. Cream dory has a fishy taste which I don't like. Furthermore, the fish and chips were not crispy when I had it, unlike Botak Jones (+1 for Botak Jones here!). Having said that, their fries and coleslaw were good--but those were the supporting roles, not the lead. A pity that the lead actor disappointed =(
Despite this little gripe, I'll definitely be going back to E-Blackboard. Perhaps this time, I'll try their spaghetti vongole and finish my meal with a slice of their cheese-cake =)
If you think this sounds rather like Botak Jones, I'd agree with you. The concept of E-Blackboard and Botak Jones is rather similar--good western food (and I don't mean the Singaporeanized coffee shop chicken chop with baked beans and fat fries type!) in the heartlands,affordably priced and zero ambience. To me, the main difference between the two is that Botak Jones delivers tasty comfort food for pigging out while E-Blackboard is good for finer food at daintier portions (but still filling) =) So each is good, just in a different way.
Check out this tempting dish =) The mashed potatoes were tasty and smooth while the grilled fish was still tender and juicy. At $8.90, it's worth every cent.
I tried their fish & chips which costs $6, which is the same price as Botak Jones' regular sized fish and chips. I much prefer Botak Jones' fish & chips as they use the Pacific Dory fish which has a cleaner taste, rather than Cream Dory which E-Blackboard uses. Cream dory has a fishy taste which I don't like. Furthermore, the fish and chips were not crispy when I had it, unlike Botak Jones (+1 for Botak Jones here!). Having said that, their fries and coleslaw were good--but those were the supporting roles, not the lead. A pity that the lead actor disappointed =(
Despite this little gripe, I'll definitely be going back to E-Blackboard. Perhaps this time, I'll try their spaghetti vongole and finish my meal with a slice of their cheese-cake =)
16 August 2007
Let It Be Known That I Hate My Brother
My handphone rings, and lo, it's the Brother, no less!
Me: Hello?
He: Hey yah, I'm going down to a thrift shop because my friend who works there just told me that a filty rich guy just came down with a load of Armani shirts and stuff. You want anything from there for Intuition?
Me: Great thanks! Help me pick up something.
He: Ok sure.
Me: If you happen to see anything nice for ladies, can you help me pick it up too? My waist is 2x - 2(x+1). Thanks.
He: . . .
Me: ?
He: . . . so fat?
Me: Hello?
He: Hey yah, I'm going down to a thrift shop because my friend who works there just told me that a filty rich guy just came down with a load of Armani shirts and stuff. You want anything from there for Intuition?
Me: Great thanks! Help me pick up something.
He: Ok sure.
Me: If you happen to see anything nice for ladies, can you help me pick it up too? My waist is 2x - 2(x+1). Thanks.
He: . . .
Me: ?
He: . . . so fat?
15 August 2007
Eating @ The Arthouse
A quiet place Intuition and I like to visit for good ambience, good value for money pizzas and simple, satisfying desserts is the Earshot Cafe @ The Arthouse (aka The Old Parliament House). Earshot Cafe is a place to read, chill and enjoy hushed conversations. It houses a collection of books and music written by Singaporeans of various genres, ranging from History books to art-publications to raunchier stuff. You can browse the books there and listen to the music. There are comfortable chairs and sofas for you to curl up and read for as long as you like, as long as you don't overstay your welcome by sitting past their closing time. The service is quick and non-intrusive--yet another reason to pop by.
I like it for its quietness and the good, simple fare it offers. A medium sized pizza costs $12.50 and is enough to feed 2 medium sized appetites (read: neither Intuition nor I :P). They have only 3 types of pizzas available, but I like all 3 flavours, especially the tomato and mozerella cheese one. The crust isn't thick and starchy but fairly thin and crispy, just the way I like it.
The desserts don't disappoint either. The apple-crumble with a scoop of cinnamon ice-cream is just sweet enough, nicely crumbly and has a good hint of cinnamon in it--definitely good stuff. Personally, I like their peach pastry with honey ice-cream, but last night's ice-cream tasted more like coconut milk than honey, so that seemed rather mismatched.
Check out the place when you want to peruse the literary and musical talents of Singaporeans; when you want to take your time to finish your meal and your book without being rushed by the wait-staff to "moveitmoveitmoveit-others-are-waiting-for-your-table-dammit"; and when you want some peace and quiet in the midst of the city bustle.
14 August 2007
10 August 2007
Breakfast, Brother and Butt
I woke up at 8:30am when my alarm went off, hit the snooze button and went straight back to bed. It wasn't until 9:30am before I decided to open my eyes and smile at the world.
It's not often that I get to sleep at 12:30am and wake up at 9:30am--a good 8 hours of solid ZZZZZ. That extra sleep puts me in a very good mood. My itenary for the morning also looked very good: Breakfast, followed by some roller-blading @ a lovely park near my home. The weather was perfect. I kicked off the blanket and wandered to the kitchen, wondering what should I indulge in for breakfast.
Breakfast is my favourite meal of the day because I get to drink coffee with food items that I like to eat, but would be strange to eat at any other time of the day except in the morning. Some of my favourite breakfasts are the simple stuff--usually some form of carbohydrates with caffiene. Eg, kaya + butter on toast with coffee. Ham & cheese sandwich with coffee. Or a soft, chewy savoury pao with coffee. Or a muffin with coffee. ANYTHING with good coffee, and I'm ready to face the day :D
I settled on cheese + tomato on buttered toast and sprinkled some dried basil onto the combination, made a nice big mug of coffee and read the comics while enjoying my breakfast alone in the morning. It's nice to have that kind of leisure alone time once in a while =) (But it's really not by choice, seeing how my brother and my mum wakes up for lunch. My dad is usually my breakfast companion, but he's away, so...)
As I was finishing up my coffee, my brother woke up (voluntarily! before lunchtime!) and asked me if I could pick up his friend and send the both of them to the interchange. It was phrased like a request, but in reality, it was a demand. Being the nice sister that I am (and because I foresee that I'll need him to drive me around sometime in the future), I gave in. Reluctantly.
Conversation in the car:
Me: You know, I don't have to do this.
He: It is out of love for your brother that you do this.
Me: Bullsh*t. I shouldn't be going this way. I should be in the other lane now, turning into the park. See? The sun's coming out. The weather would've been perfect, but you're ruining it for me.
He: No, the weather would have been the same anyway.
Me: No, the weather is getting hotter. NOW is fine, but the delay you're causing me is not going to be fine.
He: Well sometimes in life, you need to go around in circles to get to your final destination.
Me: I don't need to go on this circle.
But I do anyway.
So I picked him up, sent him and his friend to the interchange and went on my merry little way to the park and bladed happily. I was cruising along, enjoying the breeze on my skin and smiling at the greenery around me when my left foot skidded on something slippery and before I know it, my blades were going in different directions under me and BANG! I fall butt-first to the ground.
Actually, it wasn't so much a fall as it was a skid. My poor butt skidded on the asphalt. There is a part of my butt left in the park and part of the park left in my butt, and it's not a pretty sight. Unfortunately, there was no one else around to help me up. Fortunately, there was no one else around to laugh at me. Instead of going for the 2 rounds I had intended to do, one round would have to suffice.
At night, I told my brother:
Me: You know what?
He: What?
Me: I fell on my butt this morning.
He: Serious? So now how?
Me: It's bleeding. The fall took the skin off it.
He: Serious? So now how?
Me: It's all your fault.
He: Serious? So now how?
Me: So it's all your fault that you made me do that little detour. If not for that detour, I wouldn've have fallen and I wouldn't be in so much pain now.
He: *big grin on his face*
I have a doofus for a brother.
And that was how I spent my National Day holiday.
It's not often that I get to sleep at 12:30am and wake up at 9:30am--a good 8 hours of solid ZZZZZ. That extra sleep puts me in a very good mood. My itenary for the morning also looked very good: Breakfast, followed by some roller-blading @ a lovely park near my home. The weather was perfect. I kicked off the blanket and wandered to the kitchen, wondering what should I indulge in for breakfast.
Breakfast is my favourite meal of the day because I get to drink coffee with food items that I like to eat, but would be strange to eat at any other time of the day except in the morning. Some of my favourite breakfasts are the simple stuff--usually some form of carbohydrates with caffiene. Eg, kaya + butter on toast with coffee. Ham & cheese sandwich with coffee. Or a soft, chewy savoury pao with coffee. Or a muffin with coffee. ANYTHING with good coffee, and I'm ready to face the day :D
I settled on cheese + tomato on buttered toast and sprinkled some dried basil onto the combination, made a nice big mug of coffee and read the comics while enjoying my breakfast alone in the morning. It's nice to have that kind of leisure alone time once in a while =) (But it's really not by choice, seeing how my brother and my mum wakes up for lunch. My dad is usually my breakfast companion, but he's away, so...)
As I was finishing up my coffee, my brother woke up (voluntarily! before lunchtime!) and asked me if I could pick up his friend and send the both of them to the interchange. It was phrased like a request, but in reality, it was a demand. Being the nice sister that I am (and because I foresee that I'll need him to drive me around sometime in the future), I gave in. Reluctantly.
Conversation in the car:
Me: You know, I don't have to do this.
He: It is out of love for your brother that you do this.
Me: Bullsh*t. I shouldn't be going this way. I should be in the other lane now, turning into the park. See? The sun's coming out. The weather would've been perfect, but you're ruining it for me.
He: No, the weather would have been the same anyway.
Me: No, the weather is getting hotter. NOW is fine, but the delay you're causing me is not going to be fine.
He: Well sometimes in life, you need to go around in circles to get to your final destination.
Me: I don't need to go on this circle.
But I do anyway.
So I picked him up, sent him and his friend to the interchange and went on my merry little way to the park and bladed happily. I was cruising along, enjoying the breeze on my skin and smiling at the greenery around me when my left foot skidded on something slippery and before I know it, my blades were going in different directions under me and BANG! I fall butt-first to the ground.
Actually, it wasn't so much a fall as it was a skid. My poor butt skidded on the asphalt. There is a part of my butt left in the park and part of the park left in my butt, and it's not a pretty sight. Unfortunately, there was no one else around to help me up. Fortunately, there was no one else around to laugh at me. Instead of going for the 2 rounds I had intended to do, one round would have to suffice.
At night, I told my brother:
Me: You know what?
He: What?
Me: I fell on my butt this morning.
He: Serious? So now how?
Me: It's bleeding. The fall took the skin off it.
He: Serious? So now how?
Me: It's all your fault.
He: Serious? So now how?
Me: So it's all your fault that you made me do that little detour. If not for that detour, I wouldn've have fallen and I wouldn't be in so much pain now.
He: *big grin on his face*
I have a doofus for a brother.
And that was how I spent my National Day holiday.
06 August 2007
Of Whirlwinds, Quirkie Gatherings and Normality
Normality
I am happy to say that my swollen cheek (aka cheekmunk) is well and truly gone! All that's left of my wisdom tooth extraction is a gaping hole where the tooth used to be =) It's not bleeding nor infected, but because the stitches came loose very soon after the extraction, it's slightly torn. Thankfully, everything else is okay, I just have to make sure that food particles don't get stuck in there =) Which they do. So I have to rinse my mouth very carefully nowadays, but that's okay =) I'm just really happy that I can eat normal food again! Attention food, I'm back with a vengeance!!
And my hair colour is getting more and more normal ; ) Yay!
Whirlwinds
The weekend was a whirlwind of activities for me, so much so that the only time I had to stop and stone was on Sunday night, 12midnight.
Saturday was filled because of Smiley's wedding (congrats Mr & Mrs LSJ!), where I was one of the sisters, which meant we had to head down to her place by 7.30am before the groom arrived with his motley crew for the torture process =) For her wedding dinner, Intuition and I were the emcees; a first for me! I was the mandarin speaking emcee! My Chinese is not good nor is it fluent, but next to Intuition, well, let's just say that ACS is not known to produce Chinese speaking scholars ; ) Thankfully, it went okay, except for when I tripped over the groom's fathers name and mispronounced his surname twice in a row and nearly stuttered when I started. I felt like I was preparing for my O level Chinese oral exam all over again during the incessant rehearsels with Intuition. Intuition did well on stage, he's quite the natural, so all I had to do was to follow his lead with the mandarin translation =) We make a good team!
Quirkie Gatherings
5 Aug was the gathering of the PMs at QuirkieKai Land! Sadly, we're gathering to say goodbye to our dear Singing Tigger, as she's returning to the States in September =( We don't want to let her go, but I guess in life, there's always some coming and going. True to her name, she sang us a gorgeous song, "My Tribute". It is a beautiful song with meaningful lyrics, and she's blessed with such a rich and gorgeous voice. A hushed awe descended upon the room as Mich played the piano and Singing Tigger sang her heart out. Everyone whipped out their digicams and handphones to capture the moment, but nothing beats a live performance =) I was honestly expecting a crowd to gather outside my windows as she reached the chorus of the song. What a treat it was for all of us present =)
Ms Krong also sang us a song in a way that only she can! Walt Disney, should you need voice talents for any cats, look no further! Ms Krong can meow her way into the hearts of anyone who cares to listen to her feline rendition of "Christmas Isn't Christmas."
Mr Bing sang about 2 lines of a song too, and it's forever burned into our retinas and etched into our memories. Mr Bing, Mr Bing, Mr Bing. You will forever be associated with "Physical" and "Teletubbies." I'm sure Mich will agree. Poor Mich, tis her first time meeting you and I'm sure she won't ever forget your quirkiness!
Speaking of singing, I'm just really glad I'm moving out of this place by next year. This group sang passe national day songs with such gusto that I'm sure my entire neighbourhood heard their rendition of Stand Up for Singapore, 5 Stars Arising, We The Citizens, This Is My Country and other such hair-raising spine-tingling patroiticpropaganda songs. I'm sure MP Mah Bow Tan would've been mighty pleased with me should he have passed by my humble apartment during that time, but in the mean time, pardon me while I find a hole to stick my head into. I mean, seriously guys, I have to live here, you know?? You guys, you guys just do the damage to my reputation in the neighbourhood and then you leave! Me, I have to stay here and face the neighbours! What am I to do??
And so, with the quirkie gathering over and done with, some semblance of normality returns to my life =) But I wouldn't exchange those 5 hours of wine, song and laughter for anything else in the world--I really had a great time. It's the quirkie moments that makes life so special, no?
I am happy to say that my swollen cheek (aka cheekmunk) is well and truly gone! All that's left of my wisdom tooth extraction is a gaping hole where the tooth used to be =) It's not bleeding nor infected, but because the stitches came loose very soon after the extraction, it's slightly torn. Thankfully, everything else is okay, I just have to make sure that food particles don't get stuck in there =) Which they do. So I have to rinse my mouth very carefully nowadays, but that's okay =) I'm just really happy that I can eat normal food again! Attention food, I'm back with a vengeance!!
And my hair colour is getting more and more normal ; ) Yay!
Whirlwinds
The weekend was a whirlwind of activities for me, so much so that the only time I had to stop and stone was on Sunday night, 12midnight.
Saturday was filled because of Smiley's wedding (congrats Mr & Mrs LSJ!), where I was one of the sisters, which meant we had to head down to her place by 7.30am before the groom arrived with his motley crew for the torture process =) For her wedding dinner, Intuition and I were the emcees; a first for me! I was the mandarin speaking emcee! My Chinese is not good nor is it fluent, but next to Intuition, well, let's just say that ACS is not known to produce Chinese speaking scholars ; ) Thankfully, it went okay, except for when I tripped over the groom's fathers name and mispronounced his surname twice in a row and nearly stuttered when I started. I felt like I was preparing for my O level Chinese oral exam all over again during the incessant rehearsels with Intuition. Intuition did well on stage, he's quite the natural, so all I had to do was to follow his lead with the mandarin translation =) We make a good team!
Quirkie Gatherings
5 Aug was the gathering of the PMs at QuirkieKai Land! Sadly, we're gathering to say goodbye to our dear Singing Tigger, as she's returning to the States in September =( We don't want to let her go, but I guess in life, there's always some coming and going. True to her name, she sang us a gorgeous song, "My Tribute". It is a beautiful song with meaningful lyrics, and she's blessed with such a rich and gorgeous voice. A hushed awe descended upon the room as Mich played the piano and Singing Tigger sang her heart out. Everyone whipped out their digicams and handphones to capture the moment, but nothing beats a live performance =) I was honestly expecting a crowd to gather outside my windows as she reached the chorus of the song. What a treat it was for all of us present =)
Ms Krong also sang us a song in a way that only she can! Walt Disney, should you need voice talents for any cats, look no further! Ms Krong can meow her way into the hearts of anyone who cares to listen to her feline rendition of "Christmas Isn't Christmas."
Mr Bing sang about 2 lines of a song too, and it's forever burned into our retinas and etched into our memories. Mr Bing, Mr Bing, Mr Bing. You will forever be associated with "Physical" and "Teletubbies." I'm sure Mich will agree. Poor Mich, tis her first time meeting you and I'm sure she won't ever forget your quirkiness!
Speaking of singing, I'm just really glad I'm moving out of this place by next year. This group sang passe national day songs with such gusto that I'm sure my entire neighbourhood heard their rendition of Stand Up for Singapore, 5 Stars Arising, We The Citizens, This Is My Country and other such hair-raising spine-tingling patroitic
And so, with the quirkie gathering over and done with, some semblance of normality returns to my life =) But I wouldn't exchange those 5 hours of wine, song and laughter for anything else in the world--I really had a great time. It's the quirkie moments that makes life so special, no?
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