September 2009 – sleepy's blog

F1 Rocks Concert 2009

First ever F1 Rocks Concert at Fort Canning Park. It’s a 3 days music event, 24 to 26 September 2009, with artists from various countries. We got the tickets for 24th September 2009, starring Da Mouth, Soda Green, A-Mei and Jacky Cheung.

The “door” opens at 5pm, but there are die-hard fans already queuing at 7am in the morning. Anyway, took us some time to even reach the security checkpoint and the queue ushering sucks. For people who have tickets for the next 2 days, tips for you. No food and drinks are allowed into the venue, you can come bagless to join the express lane with only body checks, no need to bring mat because you will be standing. Drinks sold there are insanely expensive: soft drinks and juices for $5, mineral water and red bull for $4, also includes alcoholic drinks and food. Oh by the way, we are standing right in front =D

One thing great about Fort Canning venue is that the terrain slopes downwards (like cinema theatre), stage is at the bottom of the terrain. So at any point you stand, you can see the performance. We manage to reach the grassland at around 5.38pm, saw A-Mei and Soda Green rehearsing their bits.

Concert commerce late, around 7:20pm with first performance by Da Mouth. Next is Soda Green. Halfway through, the sound system just kaboomz, no sound. A-Mei’s performance is terrific, but she sang mainly her new songs. The preparation of equipment for Jacky Cheung’s appearance took damn long which we don’t know why. The humble singer apologises on behalf of the crew for the waiting. There is an encore, hinted by Jacky, we should shout for that. Cute little old man. Concert lasted till 12am, around there.

Let the pictures do the rest of the talking.

Queuing. Not even at the security checks.

Stage. Amei behind black umbrella, rehearsing.

Us.

Before concert with fair bit of crowd. Still can sit.

Hosts from 93.3FM.

Da Mouth.

Qing Feng from Soda Green. For Bong Laily.

Soda Green.

A-Mei.

Jacky Cheung. My idol.

All artists, singing MJ’s Heal The World.

P.S. Cafe

After nagging for a few weeks and trying real hard to wake up early for brunch on weekends, I finally visited the P.S. Cafe.

I came to know this place (Paragon branch) during Polytechnic times. It’s the very few places we go dating back then. I only know them for their Banana Milk Shakes and cakes initially, because Lester loves them. Slowly, we started popping in to dine for their main courses. It’s only these few weeks, I crave for pasta, angmo’s food, spice and herbs. I feel like sunbathing and wearing a sundress and I suddenly think of P.S. Cafe. Did a little Googling, I am extremely attracted to the outdoor greenery of this particular branch at Harding Road.

It’s a little difficult to go into Harding Road without a car, kinda deep in. Weekends Brunch starts at 9.30am to 5pm (including public holiday) but often very crowded. We sit around the sofas await for the leaving guests, and later being ushered to an outdoor table. Love it! Large areas are designated to non-smoking, only to the right are for smoking. So basically, you don’t get to smell the puffs at all.

We ordered Banana Milk Shakes Specials (Chan’s family all-time favorite), P.S. Digestive Tea (I am bloated), and Iced Lemon Lime Tea (Lester just loves ICED + LEMON + TEA). We go for Colonial Curry Pie, P.S. Sheperd’s Pie & Soup and Chicken Parmigiano for our main courses. The sun gets too hot and we shift under the shelter but still outdoor. Wraps up the meal with a cake, Ultimate Fudgy Brownie with Vanilla Ice Cream.

I’m always looking for chances to stay out of air-conditioning and outside the concretes. This is quite a place to stay for long hours with ultimate clean flow of natural air and sun rays.

P.S. Cafe

Entrance

Sofa to sit while waiting for your turn

Indoor section 01

Indoor section 02

Inviting cakes & magazines

Please wait to be seated

Outdoor section 01

Outdoor section 02 (Under the roof shades). Far at the back is the smoking dining area.

Call for cab? That is so sweet of them to leave a little card.

P.S. Cafe

P.S. Digestive Tea

A mixture of different flowers (Unsweeten)

P.S. Digestive Tea

Iced Lemon Lime Tea

Colonial Curry Pie

Colonial Curry Pie (Inside)

P.S. Sheperd’s Pie & Soup

P.S. Sheperd’s Pie & Soup (Inside)

Chicken Parmigiano

Chicken Parmigiano (All lean)

Ultimate Fudgy Brownie with Ice Cream

To Kader who says my blog makes him more hungry. You can now officially surf during the day. Selemat Hari Raya…

Rive Gauche’s Strawberry Shortcake

I just want a simple strawberry shortcake for my birthday. This is the first one I’ve tried from Rive Gauche at Basement 1 Takashima.

As many know, strawberry shortcake comprises the most easy to find ingredients. But if pastries shop can make this cake different, that is something.

My slice of strawberry shortcake costs me $5. Nothing special and the strawberry isn’t lovely red. Worth it? Nope~~~

River Gauche Patisserie

Dry ice inside. But I think it has vaporized, I don’t see anything.

Strawberry Shortcake Top

Strawberry Shortcake Side

Lazy Afternoon

Sleep and sleep and sleep…

R Burger

We had a very dissatisfying dinner at Taka’s Central and ended up roaming around for more food.

R Burger is a franchise brought in by a Mediacorp Artiste, Adam Chen. In Asia, you can find them in both Japan and Thailand. So far, the only stall in Singapore is located in Orchard ION basement.

Imagine substituting brown sesame bread with Chinese white bao bun. According to the description, the bread of R Burger has added marine collagen that benefits our body. The burgers are wrapped in a pocket-like wrapper, like what we always eat with in MOS Burger. Buns are served warm and soft.

They have unique burger flavors, altogether 6 of them. We choose R Burger which is beef patty and Tofu Burger which is chicken and tofu patty. Do not expect mayonnaise, mustard, bbq sauce kind of seasoning. Instead, the savory gravy are much more oriental. A bit like eating kong ba bao. I also conclude that the bun belongs to those “high absorbent” type, so if your bun has less gravy in it, the whole burger just get dryer, less moist. I believe this is what Lester means by “more taste” with my Tofu Burger than his R Burger.

Everything is healthy, the buns are freshly steamed, the patties are pan-fried only. I only hope that the patties can be slightly thicker. Maybe 2 layers will be perfect.

But sometimes you just crave for deep fried stuff, didn’t we? To me, R Burger is just an alternative.

R Burger at Orchard ION Basement

R Burger Take Away Pack

R Burger Sticker

Imprint on All Burgers

R Burger (Beef Patty)

Tofu Burger Sticker

Tofu Burger (Chicken + Tofu Patty)

25岁家的定义

无意中和同学聊起怎么兼顾以后的事业和家庭。

身为设计师的我，真的没有在做朝九晚五的工作。只是在不定时的时间上班，在别人喝下午茶的时候吃午餐，在别人舒舒服服地看着九点档连续剧时才吃晚餐。还时不时地跟灰姑娘比赛几点下班。而且我最最最重要的责任就是在“等”。“等”着顾客的brief，“等”着同事的设计，“等”着老板的批评，“等”着修改，“等”着影印，就是十万个“等”。我的另一半也会因为我的“等”而在“等”。可怜吧。这样的生活怎么兼顾得了事业和家庭，你可真的是考倒我了。

所以不能怪我多想了一点。

我急性子的另一伴应该会夺命连环call，要我不顾一切地放下手上的工作。“我到了，你要下来了没有？” “你要几点吃饭？” “你不能明天再做吗？很晚了你知道吗？” “你要回来了吗？我来载你！”可能他也会被我放了无数次的飞机，而气呼呼地不理我或臭骂我一顿。

我也很有可能在他的生命里时常缺席。。。

作息差个十万八千里。。。两个人可能搞得像远房亲戚一样，久久才聚在一起。。。

所以，我不太敢想象生命里若多了一个成天只会吃喝拉撒的娃娃,会是怎么一个样子。真的要我改变吗？我好像没那么伟大。他会改变不更新电器的瘾,让我的娃娃有钱喝奶吃饭吗?更加是不可能!

我25岁家的定义是：两个人在一起，各为各的事业打拼，已享受人生至上。

再过5年你再问我，定义可能会不一样。

Men-ya Kaiko

Men-ya Kaiko Hokkaido Ramen is located at the basement of Orchard ION. This small eatery counter has a little space behind the counter. You’ll need to queue in front and wait for the staff to signal for your seats. While waiting outside, I am served with cold green tea.

Men-ya Kaiko Ramen serve 4 soup bases: White Miso, Red Miso, Spicy Miso and Soy Sauce (Shoyu). And I am excited because this shop also cater chicken ramen for people who don’t eat pork like me. Both of us ordered Chicken Ramen with Red Miso and Pork & Chicken Ramen with White Miso. Seriously, you won’t find it any different with the soup bases unless you drink from 2 bowls for comparison.

I forget to count how many chicken slices I am given, but I estimated a generous 5 or 6 pieces of large lean chicken. Whoo hoo~ Pork & Chicken Ramen on the other hand is half pork slices and half chicken slices. The pork slices are quite fatty according to Lester.

Noodle is eggy thick type. Lester commented it’s a little overcook, soggy. However, I only feel so when I am about to finish the bowl. Perhaps, the noodle’s texture is already less diong in the first place, and needs shorter cooking time? I wish to have more spring onions and bamboo shoots in my ramen. Can forget about the shoyu eggs if you like them to be runny in the yolk. Theirs are almost well done.

The staff are really very observant and polite. But for a small eatery like that, they charge a 10% service charge and 7% GST on top of the price stated. Payment are all in cash terms. Worth it?

Located at Basement of Orchard ION