Rounding up 2011
31 Dec 2011 Leave a Comment
365 days came and went by again. Today is the last day of 2011, so what have you all been up to?
This year’s rounding up series would be a little different. Instead of collages, I would use my favourite Instagram photos to do the talking of my 2011 highlights.
Bought a new camera, and thanks to it, I have excellent photos which I really love to capture my favourites on earth, people and food.
Lots of excellent home cooked food besides the eat outs.
My first winter wonderland experience with so much snow.
Went back to Austin after a 2 year hiatus and had a great time with my Austin friends.
Reunited with my favorite BBQ places in Austin and more meats!
Spent great times in San Francisco with friends and had a lot of great food and sights. Napa Valley was awesome.
Had my first calgel experience in Japan (and in my life too), thanks to a wonderful person who made the appointment for me.
Visited Kyushu for the first time and even though it was just a short 2 nights trip but I still made it to some off the beaten track places.
Nothing beats a bowl of steaming Ginseng Chicken soup in Seoul, South Korea.
Great Malacca food even though melting in the sweltering heat.
Receiving the bowls and plate we made by hand.
The awesome girly meet ups in Ice cold beer with my closest girlfriends.
Great satisfaction from a Hokkaido crab meal in Tokyo.
Getting great packages all year around……nothing beats surprise packages when you least expect it.
The greatest form of geek satisfaction of replacing my iphone 3GS battery.
Making use of the kitchens at times for home cooked meals.
A year of excellent deals from the world wide web and thanks to my personal couriers in USA and Japan 
Thank you and that is why I never step into the malls in Singapore as I get all my shopping from all over the world directly.
Last but not least, the memorable night at our beautiful Singapore bay area where magical things happen that would make us remember it for life. すしさん、愛してるよ。。。
2011, Good Bye!
Can’t wait for 2012 to come……Wishing Everyone a Happy New Year! Cheers!
皆さん、明けましてお目でどうございます。
Flash backs of the past “Rounding up” series
Rounding up 2007
Rounding up 2008
Rounding up 2009
Rounding up 2010
Cherrykoko Custom Order Requests
30 Dec 2011 2 Comments
in Shop Korea - Cherrykoko, Shopaholic
Custom Purchase 1 from Cherrykoko from 1st request.
Custom Purchase 2 from Cherrykoko from 2nd request.
As usual, for CP 1, 1 item was out of stock and I have more money stuck with Cherrykoko =/
However, after the 2 CP I realized that I can actually made order for others and have the parcel mailed directly to the receiver.
Hence, for anyone else interested in Cherrykoko and yet unable to make payment on their website. I can help with their CP (with a nominal fee)
Meanwhile, for the rest who are interested in the clothes from this site and yet want to have lower shipping rates from bulk order would have to wait till March for my next Cherrykoko spree (when the spring clothes are out)
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Nanbantei
29 Dec 2011 Leave a Comment
in Food, SG Japanese Food
One of the longest-standing and possibly first Japanese yakitori restaurants around, Nanbantei is an authentic slice of the yakitori culture which originated from Japan. Tucked away on the fifth floor of Far East Plaza, the establishment is homely; small and cozy, with good ventilation
Vegetable munchies but they are chargable.
Ordered the Yakitori set to share, this portion of sashimi which originally is for 1 looks like a suffice portion.
The set would consist of 8 sticks, 2 of the 8 would Tomato Pork Maki and Pork with Leek
Long Bean wrapped with pork and potato wrapped with pork
Ladies’ Fingers, Chicken Liver, Chicken Meat Balls and Chicken with Leek
Added ala carte order of grilled squid.
Soft shell crab, a little pity that it was over fried.
Chicken cartilage yakitori.
1 of the best onigiri yaki, I had in Singapore. Flavour full with garlic and rice seasoning, although you might need some water to quench your thirst as it was a tad salty.
Address:
14 Scotts Road #05-132, Far East Plaza, Singapore
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Yakitori Enmaru
26 Dec 2011 Leave a Comment
in Food, SG Japanese Food
A newly open (at least to me) Yakitori place at Ion. All orders are min 2 sticks. I almost felt that I was back in a Japanese yakitori place and there were some Japanese staff in there too.
Salad served with miso, exactly to how it was done in Japan. Except over here, it wasn’t free flow.
Happy hour promotion, 2 glasses of beer for only $10.
Konnyaku yakitori.
Pork belly yakitori
Chicken cartilage.
Ochazuke (tea + rice)
But my personal favorite is still onigiir yaki (grilled rice ball)
Steak yakitori.
Address:
2 Orchard Turn, #04-11 ION Orchard
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Day Trip Adventure
23 Dec 2011 4 Comments
in Chilling out, Food, Msia Local
This was an idea that struck us during 1 of the wedding dinner that we attended. Even though JX had been back in JB for a long time but we as his old classmates had never taken the chance to strut across the causeway to let him play host. So we made the long journey down to JB 1 weekend (luckily no broken MRT along the way then) and finally made it across the border by 1pm.
The heavy rain did not stop us from making a hunt for great food.
First stop was a Pork Rib Soup place (no idea of the name or location of the place) but it was great stuff. Anything slow cooked by charcoal usually taste heavenly to me.
First up was some pickled vegetable.
Pork rib soup with add ons like liver and stomach etc.
Claypot sesame chicken, very fragrant.
But our top favorite was the Rice wine claypot chicken.
Since this was a eating fun trip, so the next place we headed out to was for some coffee at Living Room Cafe.
Coffee and coffee art……
Happy Birthday to our great host!
Old style zhi char place called 3rd storey.
Crispy baby octopus, the crust was so yummilious.
Stir fried baby sprouts.
This place is famous for its fried bee hoon.
Fresh steamed fish.
Claypot beancurd.
Deep fried cray fish.
Thank you for the wonderful day!
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When dusk came…
21 Dec 2011 Leave a Comment
in Celebrations
Twilight may have came….when the sun sets
When the sky got darker and the stars showed up, magical things could happen at the same spot.
Forward looking…Happy Anniversary…:)
Haw Par Villa
19 Dec 2011 Leave a Comment
in Chilling out
The park, originally called “Tiger Balm Gardens”, was built in 1937 by brothers Aw Boon Haw and Aw Boon Par, the developers of Tiger Balm, as a venue for teaching traditional Chinese values. The site was purchased by Aw in 1935. The brothers are originally from Burma (Myanmar) and they were famed as the Tiger Balm Kings from Rangoon (Yangon), the former capital of present day Myanmar. The Aw brothers moved their business to Singapore in 1926 and achieved great heights. While expanding their business empire was important, Aw Boon Haw and Aw Boon Par firmly believed that one should contribute to society. In 1988, the Singapore Tourism Board took over the running of the Tiger Balm Gardens and re-named it as Haw Par Villa Dragon World. The statues were restored while retaining the original flavour.
- Wiki
This park is probably on most Singaporeans’ childhood memories if they were born in the 70′s or 80′s as I remembered that this was 1 of the parks that my parents brought me.
The infamous statues of the 10 courts of hell, showing all the different forms of punishment one can meet since Buddhist believed in reincarnation.
Found some ancient mermadis frolicking in the sun.
Do you remember taking photo of the laughing Buddha when you were there? I am sure I had 1 photo of it when I was young.
How can you not have a tiger in a Tiger Balm Garden?
Some of the statues were restored to mint condition and some of the art works were done up later when the park was converted to a theme park.
Lot of stories and meanings from these statues.
Another picturesque place that you probably had it in your old photo album 
