Wanted something light and healthy for today's dinner, so I tried out a recipe for some tofu from Marumi Karihara's cookbook. Turned out quite nice - I really like the sauce (made from lemon juice and soy sauce with red pepper and spring onions on top).
One of my favorite places to eat in Singapore - they have killer specials! This time I got the "Italian Braised Lamb with tomato, borlotti beans and capsicum, cheesey spinach polenta, broad beans and herbs".
Hope it got that right - the specials also have killer names.
No matter how many times you have seen a rainbow, to have one appear after a rainy day is makes you feel like a kid again. You want to run to see where the rainbow ends and yell to all the strangers who aren't yet staring upon the sky with wonder - look! look! it's a rainbow!
Another Sunday, another sunset... in Singapore.
And what do you know I fell for their marketing gimmick, and become a member (it's 15% percent off!). They do entice you with all the freebies:
Not sure what I would need with a basketball (it was either that or a football). He.. he.. don't we all just love free stuff?
Oh and also the worse tasting coffee in the world. After I put in some milk, it had the consistency and color of post-Katrina mud. Eww!
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After Skype-ing for a bit with W (he got some 'fear of driving on freeways' issues now), I was peckish again and decided to head out for shopping and lunch at Bugis Junction. The Kinokuniya branch there had a 20% off promotion there, so how could I resist!
Bought a book I had my eye on for some time - iCon Steve Jobs : The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business. And of course my weekend read, the weekend edition of the Financial Times.
Then it was time for a late lunch. Where to go, where to go? Then I saw the sign (below) and remember - why not Ma Maison?
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I've always have a soft spot for their style of food... I guess it's Japanese style western food. If you like Sonie's in Bangkok, you'll love this place. Was feeling pretty hungry, so I quickly decided to go for their special - spaghetti with chili fish eggs:
Highly recommended this one - the fish eggs give the pasta a nice creamy sauce and is accomponied by tiny little shrimps. The little kick of chili kept the dish from being too bland and heavy.
I like their 'Pasta Tossing' utensil (see above), although it took me a while to figure out what it was. Below is the close-up... can you see the little fish eggs?
The decor of the place has a kitschy cozy feeling with lots of dark wood and random memorabilia. And since the place is called 'Ma Maison', they do give you a 'key' to their house so to speak (you take it up to the counter to pay for your meal - see the table number?). Cute.
Re-open Exhibition - pictures and art from Open Magazine (one my favorite magazines, but now sadly on extended hiatus):
Re-Open: Nong Plub (this happens to be on the cover of the first Open I bought).
Re-Open: Artwork by Thai Vijit
I didn't know too much about Chen Kuan Tai, but just that he's the star of the opening film of the festival - Boxer from Shantung. So I went not expecting too much and as a result was blown away by the movie!
I think if you are a kid growing up in Asia, there was probably a few periods in your life when you are really into kungfu martial arts (kum lung pai nai in Thai) serials. I had quite a few fights with toy swords with my brother while making swishing (sword cutting through air) sound effects.
Seeing this movie made me realize how derivative of those serials and the Kill Bill movies are - here I was seeing the source and inspiration of kungfu on the screen! And no wonder Quentin Tarantino supposedly got hooked on this stuff when he was a video store clerk.
The movie is sorta 'The Godfather' meets kungfu. Chen plays Ma Yongzhen, the boxer of the title, to starts of humble beginnings to become gangster boss of Shanghai (think Godfather, Part II - the rise of Vito Corleone - a lot less subtle) and then his fall from grace. The director made the effort to inject some big themes on the corruption of power and sacrifice in between some incredible action sequences.
And the coolest one has to be the finale fight in at a teahouse (rong tiam) at the end. By the end of the fight, our hero has taken down 4 of the rival gangboss's henchmen (the "Four Champions"), fallen down the balcony 3 times and fought about 101 underlings armed with axes and daggers - all while bleeding with a hachet stuck in his side!
And the blood, oh the blood! I reminds me of an espisode of Fear Factor I just saw in which they had to bob for rings in a vat full of cow blood.
Phew... that was fun! I'm thinking of catching more shows soon. They told me there's an open air screening of "The Kingdom and The Beauty" - maybe some classic period drama for a change. My friend told me the star, Linda Lin Dai, was the It-girl of her day or something like that. Hmm... thinking of going with some mooncakes to the screening and having a mini picnic.