*dimsumdolly* - the different morsels of the life of a foodie

Stagnated

So this is probably the longest stretch of time I’ve left my blog without a proper entry. A brief “Uninspired” sent some messages from concerned friends my way. Thanks, guys. It’s really nice and comforting to know I have friends who care. Appreciate it.

Well, I’ve just been uninspired to write. I haven’t been checking out new eating places. I haven’t gone on any dates. I haven’t done anything new. In short, my life seems stagnated. Hence the lack of inspiration.

A friend sms-ed me last night and said she wanted to cancel out on a blind date that’s to take place on Friday. Nerves must have struck her and she said maybe she should “act blur” and hope the guy will forget about it. My reply: “Don’t be stupid! Just go ok! Give yourself a chance. If you REALLY don’t want, I’ll go on that date since I’m so freakg bored & hv no plans yet 4 fri!Wld u prefer tt???”

I think that reply did it – she is, hopefully, going on that date. Haha. But what I wrote is true, right? At least she can get a free meal, ok! In my opinion, that’s good enough a reason to go. ;)

Uninspired

From Subway With Love

Laura is an attractive 20-something woman who lives in Prague with her widowed mother. The two women muse about their love lives and diss Czech men, much like the way my friends and I diss Singaporean men. Ahaha.

As Laura has her hair fixed at her hairdresser's, she recounts her past successes and failures with men to her hairdresser who is also another woman looking for love. While on a ski trip with her second boyfriend, Laura meets Oliver, a much older man whom she is very attracted to. They fall in love, or lust really, and fall out of it on a return trip a year later to the same ski resort where they had met. Not long after the break-up, Laura sees a love letter addressed to her being plastered on many ad spaces in the subway trains. Will Oliver, who is a high-flying advertising executive, win her back with his words?

So basically this film from the Czech Republic is really a chick-flick and it's really enjoyable! It was adapted from the novel of the same name. The soundtrack's great with its collection of chill-out French songs! A recommended watch!

Jinxed

I must be really down on my luck during this period of time. The stars must somehow be misaligned for me.

I drove to Vivo City last night to watch a movie and when I went to get my car at the end of the movie, I was faced with a car that would not start. I've NO freaking idea what happened, there was no reaction whatsoever from the engine when I tried to turn on the ignition. This happend at 11.15pm. Just great.

Anyway, I had to leave the car behind in the carpark. I caught a taxi home. As of this point in writing, I think my car is still sitting there. AA (Automobile Association) refused to turn up 'cos I'm not a member. My dad's one, but he wasn't with me. Anyway, he's sorting it out now. I'm so gonna join AA now.

Maybe I might have forgotten to turn the lights off. But I think I did remember turning them off. I don't know. Can't remember! Argh!

Rest

The body finally caved in today and told the mind to sleep in for once. Too many late nights and early mornings does this to you. On normal Sunday mornings, I would be at Tanjong Beach by 9am and paddling till about 11am, after which it's lunch with my teammates either at Coastes or at Seah Im Food Centre. By the way, the Tiger Prawn Pizza and the Beef Burger at Coastes are really delicious. Chilling out there with some comfort food is a nice way to spend Sunday.

I was supposed to crawl out of bed at 7 this morning, but when the alarm went off, I didn't seem to be able to move at all. I decided that the wise thing to do was to obey my body otherwise I would find myself really sick. A prompt sms was sent to my teammate to tell her I didn't need a ride to Sentosa and I was back to dreamland, only to wake up three hours later. Nice.

This week has been rather hectic what with the early morning paddles and late nights. Wednesday night was dragon boat practice. Thursday night saw me partying at Fez Bar (at Boat Quay) with my teammates as part of a farewell get-together for one of the ladies who is one cool gal. She's going to India to do volunteer work for three months, after which she'll be heading to New Zealand to study viticulture, which is the art of grapegrowing and winemaking. After a short stay at Fez Bar, I hopped over to Wine Bar for another friend's birthday celebration. I didn't stay for long as I knew I had to get up early Friday morning. Got home by 12mn, washed up and was in bed by 12.30.

Alarm clock rings at 5am. I'm out of the house by 5.45 and in Sentosa by 6 for another morning paddle. I do my blister no favours by bursting it as I brushed my leg against the boat by accident. It pops, of course. Ouch. At night, I have dinner with three colleagues at the Hokkaido restaurant Azabu Sabo. I'm beginning to take a huge liking to this place. The food's not too bad for the prices and I love the Japanese desserts. I had the cold ramen in sesame sauce and for dessert I had the soft ice cream with sweet potato and black sesame. Liked the cold ramen, except that all the pork strips that were inside were mostly fat strips! But I liked sauce and the springy texture of the noodles.

Saturday morning saw me out at the beach again and my boat paddled to Sisters Island and back. Then three other friends and I morphed into beach bums by going to KM8. We lay on the deck chairs with our drinks and soaked in the sun - whatever that was peering through the haze that still clouds over Singapore. The sun was strong enough to make me sunburnt. Ouch.

Left KM8 at 2.30, went home for a nap, and was out again to Vivo City to catch the Danish film The Green Butchers, one of the featured films in the European Film Festival. I caught a Hungarian film called Vagabond last Saturday but that was so lousy that my friend and I walked out after an hour. We didn't get where the film was going.

The Green Butchers (De Gronne Slagtere) was, however, very quirky. It's about this two men who start their own butcher shop after being fed up at working for their pompous boss. At first, business is slow if not non-existent. However, because of a secret ingredient, their business becomes a roaring success, but soon they find themselves running out of this secret ingredient. At the same time, a few people have become missing in the town they live in. Watch it to find out how they keep their supply going...

Burnt

I suffered a very bad burn on my shin last night. No thanks to an accidental knock onto the mind-numbingly hot exhaust pipe of a swanky, yellow Harley Davidson. It was my teammate's bike and because it's not drilled into my subconscious that I shouldn't stand near the exhaust pipes of motorbikes, I leaned it a bit too much when I was talking to my teammate who was standing on the other side of the bike. Boy, did it sting. But I still carried on with dragon boat training despite the sting.

Anyway, I now have a patch of burnt skin about 5cm long and 2.5cm wide, with blisters. Ouch ouch ouch. It looks awful! I went to see the doctor this morning and she said it will take about 3 months to heal! And it will likely leave a scar. Sob. I still want to wear shorts and short skirts you know!!! :(

In other happenings...

Went for a "makan outing" with fellow foodies on Tuesday night. We went to Shatin Kitchen at Geylang Lorong 27. The last time I went to Shatin Kitchen with my family, I thought the food was fantastic so that was why I was really looking forward to dinner on Tuesday. However, the food on Tuesday turned out to be very mediocre. I was disappointed. Go here for the pictures.

The boat blessing on Saturday went well. We named the blue OC6 Lokahi [Lo-kah-hee], meaning "Unity" in Hawaiian. The idea is that as a club we want to paddle as one. Also, whenever you're in a boat, you have to paddle as one, else the boat won't move. Not as fast as it should in any case. The yellow OC6 we named Lea [Lay-ah]. In Hawaiian, Lea is the Goddess of Canoe Builders. Because the OC6s were bought over from a women's club in Surfer's Paradise who believe very strongly in the spiritual element and traditions of the sport, we decided we should retain that feminine quality and hopefully the boat will excel with that feminine touch.

Our first canoe, a white-coloured one, is aptly named "Kinohi" [Ki-no-hee] meaning "Beginning".

At the blessing ceremony, we all had to link hands and form a circle around the two canoes. We had flower leis draped on everyone and no talking is allowed during the ceremony. The person who blesses the canoe then says some prayers (in Hawaiian) and then puts some ginger tea leaves on the nose of the canoe. He/She then proceeds to put some tea leaves on the heads of the paddlers who are to paddle the canoe out.

I was one of the 12 paddlers that day. After the canoe blesser finished putting the tea leaves on our heads, we paddled the canoe out in silence. At sea, we gave an offering by putting a slice of bread into the ocean. We then paddled back to shore.

And so that marked the end of the ceremony - we have welcomed the boats into our family!

Another Sunrise

Paddling in the morning before work is getting addictive. I went again this morning and it feels fantastic to go for a morning paddle. Unfortunately, I won't be going again anytime soon as the teammate who gave me a lift won't be working late again until the school holidays start (she works as a teacher). Taking a taxi there on my own would cost me a whopping $20.

A hard, solid paddle really wakes you up. Sixteen of us took 3 boats out today. It's wonderful to see 3 boats all out at the same time. As hard as it was to drag myself out of bed, it feels really great to be at the beach before starting a day at work.

Sunrise at Sentosa

I never thought I'd do this - wake up at 4:45am and then make my way to Sentosa for 6:15am paddle. I got a lift from a teammate and both of us arrived at Tanjong Beach at 6am.

The beach was nice and quiet and while waiting for the others to arrive, we sat in the dark chatting and enjoying the relaxing sound of the waves lapping up the shore.

We saw the sun rise to greet us and welcome us to the day as we paddled. The orangey-red ball of fire made its slow ascent as I paddled in the first seat. After 20 minutes, I was exhausted already. Being in Seat 1 is really tiring 'cos you're pulling dead water. But it also shows that I need to work on my strength and endurance. That means more running and more weights training for me - both of which I don't particularly enjoy. Blah.

The next 20 minutes saw me steering the canoe and getting more practice as a steerer. I did OK, I think. 'Cept for a few zig-zags and one instance of heading straight into a boat's path. But anyway, I steered everyone home safely. Haha.

After washing the canoes and washing up and changing into work wear, I still managed to reach the office on time! Was 10 minutes early in fact - stepped in at 8:20am. It definitely was a good morning workout!

Over-protective Parents

Some parents in Singapore are just way too protective over their children. I was in a toilet in Raffles City on Saturday night (was attending yet another boring Chinese wedding dinner - *yawn*) and there was this girl of about 3 or 4 years old, crying away near the area where the sinks were.

She was wailing away and kept telling her mum that she wanted to go to the toilet on her own. If my child wanted to exert her independence at such a young age, I'd be more than happy to let her go on her own. 'Cos I believe teaching a child to be independent is one of the best things you can do for your child and it has to start with little things like that.

Of course, opinions always differ. This particular mother obviously thought different from me because she was scolding her daughter for wanting to go on her own and insisting that she was too young to do so and that she would be in danger of locking herself in the toilet.

And I'm thinking, c'mon, it's not like the door is sssooooo difficult to unlock. It's just a matter of sliding the ledge in and out. And even if she did lock (I would definitely give the little girl more credit) herself in, tiny her could have easily crawled out through the space under the door.

I don't know how this little dispute resolved itself in the end 'cos by the time I left the toilet, the girl was still crying and insisting on going on her own and saying that she wouldn't end up locking herself in.

I guess her mother was also afraid of her dirtying herself. But hey, that's how kids learn. Parents here should just learn to let go a little!

OC Steering

My planned trip to Guam for an outrigger canoe race is now cancelled due to a screw-up in flights. So the 12 of us in the team are not going to Guam now. It's probably just as well since we didn't plan well for this and I'm not exactly very fit for a 21km race.

In any case, race or not, I've bought myself an outrigger canoe paddle. The ones I've been using so far belong to the club and most are too long for me. It's difficult to paddle with too long a paddle as it makes it difficult to switch sides quickly. Also, it's bad for the shoulders as it can cause shoulder rotation injury. So anyway, i'm waiting for my paddle to be shipped from Australia. I can't wait to use it! It's my major expense of the month. And talking about expenses, it looks like i have to buy myself a new camera. The LCD screen of my camera is spoilt and it's more value for money if I buy a new one altogether.

We rigged the two second-hand outrigger canoes we bought from Australia on Saturday. I paddled on both canoes over the weekend. I steered both canoes as well! We had a guy from the Sydney Pacific Dragons club give some of us a lesson in steering. It's pretty cool that we get visitors from clubs in other countries come by when they are here in Singapore for work for just a week of two. We also had visitors from Guam on Saturday. The sport is fantastic in bringing people from all over the world together.

So anyway, now I can steer the canoe up and down the coast quite comfortably. It feels kinda cool to be able to command a crew you know. Haha. In an outrigger canoe, the steerer is the captain and he/she commands the boat. But still, lots more to learn about different water conditions, techniques and lots more practice needed in terms of paddling and steering a canoe! Good fun! :)

Ristorante Da Valentino

Monoceros picked Ristorante Da Valentino for her belated birthday dinner and boy was it a fantastic choice!

Tucked away in a little road called Jalan Bingka which is off Rifle Range Road, this tiny Italian restaurant exudes a cosiness with its rose-red walls and home-style furnishings and decorations. You feel like you've just stepped into someone's home on entering.

A warm bread roll soon landed on each of our plates. The bread was slightly crisp on the outside and warm and fluffy inside. A pesto dip flavoured with some hint of lemon was the perfect accompaniment. I wiped out the entire dip. Actually it's "dipS" cos we all asked for another each!!!

Our starter was a piece of cheese wrapped in parma ham. The ham and cheese were then lightly pan-fried to melt the cheese a little to give it a gooey texture. It was served with some garden salad with some vinigrette. This starter was absolutely delicious and was a good indication as to what was to follow. The ham was tasty and the cheese was delightfully gooey and it is sliced through. The garden salad gave some balance to the otherwise heavy dish.

The wild boar fettucine was one of the specials of the day. The homemade pasta was nice and springy and the wild boar in a tomato-based sauce was delectable.

Always a favourite of mine, the linguini al pesto was nice and light.

The ravioli con funghi porcini was another special of the day. The minced mushrooms encased in the ravioli with cheese sprinkled on top was also tasty and had the requisite springy texture of homemade pasta.

The dish of the night had to belong to the beef steak, the Cote de Boeuf. Served on a huge platter and sprinkled with rocket, this dish is good for 4 to 5 to share. Any fewer bodies and you'd have to doggie bag. Actually, your dog would love the bone! Prepared medium-rare and lightly pan-fried with some light seasoning, the beef steak was one of the best I've ever had. For about $88, it's a really good deal especially when shared between five of us.

For desserts we had the following below. I didn't think that much of their desserts compared to the mains, but still it was a good way to end a thoroughly satisfying meal.

Chocolate apple pie - liked this one best out of the three. A nice twist to the normal apple pie and utterly sinful. Just my kinda thing.

Chocolate Salami - this was a bit dry so I didn't like it that much.

Tiramisu - creamy enough, but could have done with more alcohol.

Service: Good
Price: $50 and above per person

Ristorante Da Valentino
11 Jalan Bingka
Singapore 588908
Tel: 64620555

OC Blessing Ceremony

I'm going to pull a shameless plug for the Singapore Paddle Club here. We're having a canoe blessing ceremony next Saturday, 14 October on Sentosa's Tanjong Beach.

We're acquiring two more outrigger canoes and it's traditional to bless the canoes for good luck. It is believed every canoe has a spirit and life of its own so it needs to be accorded its due respect.

Before the blessing ceremony, the coaches and SPC members will be introducing the sport to anyone who's interested. People who want to know more about the sport can come down and have a quick paddle under supervision. Don't worry - it's perfectly safe and we're not about to tip you over in the canoe.

Introductory sessions start from 12 noon and the blessing ceremony will start at 5pm. If anyone's interested, please feel free to come down or you can drop me a note if you want to find out more.

Weekend Report

Saturday morning: Went to Tanjong Beach for OC. (outrigger canoeing) and had a preliminary lesson in steering the canoe. Unlike dragonboating which usually takes place in closed waters and is thus easier to steer, OC is done in open waters, so a steer needs to be able to read the waves, wind, etc - not easy!!! I still have loads to learn. I guess what's important for the club is to train up more steers to increase the depth of the club and provide more flexibility in training.

Saturday afternoon: Went home and spaced out on my bed for awhile. Continued to read Zadie Smith's On Beauty. First book of hers that I'm reading. Not bad so far. She's pretty good in fleshing out her characters.

Saturday night: Girls night out with my secondary school pals! It was a belated birthday celebration for monoceros. Five of us dressed up (just for the fun of it and to feel good about ourselves!) and headed to Ristorante da Valentino for a lovely Italian dinner. A review is to follow. The food there was excellent. After dinner, we headed to Wine Company along Evans Road and opened a bottle of Gewurtztraminer to share. The evening was punctuated with lots of laughter, silly jokes, wisecracks and just a lot of mucking around. Pure girlish fun.

Sunday morning: I woke up at 6am cursing myself for signing up for an 8am OC session. Tempting as it was to fall back into a slumber, the thought of 5 others waiting for me at the beach to take the canoe out prevented me from doing so. It was a tough session - I was at point (i.e. Seat 1) for the first 20min set and was totally knackered after that. It's always toughest at Seat 1 'cos that paddler is pulling dead water. Two other 20min sets followed but thank goodness I swapped seats after the first set.

It was good to start the day early though. After practice there was still so much of the day left. I went to Thomson Plaza and borrowed some VCDs from VideoEzy. Went home and had a nap in the afternoon.

Sunday night: Watched my VCDs - Le Papillon (The Butterfly) and L'Enfant (The Child) a French and Belgian film respectively. Enjoyed the former more. Anyway, it was off to an early snooze for the night despite a nap in the afternoon. Just too tired! I think I'm getting old!