Kyubey - 2nd best Sushi in Tokyo

     

             Located on the 6th floor of Keio Plaza Hotel in Shinjuku district, this sushi is the famous  Kyubey. I chanced upon this 6 star restaurant when reading about sensational eats in Shinjuku from this renowned food blogger, Jay Friedman (Blog : "Sensational Eats")         The main outlet is located in Ginza, but this outlet has only been opened half a year, hence, the availability of seats. The best sushi in Tokyo goes to Jiro Sushi at Tokyo station, where all dignitaries are offered a chance of sushi heaven from Jiro, the master himself. There is an art film called "Jiro dreams of sushi" about his life and his 2 sons, and their very demanding and exacting craft. Food can only be considered an art when it has taken decades of painstaking training and repetitive drills to achieve the multitude of flavours exploding in the customer's mouth. 

The Japanese are very accomodating people, especially to foreign guests and visitors to their country, so when we just 'dropped in' to the restaurant unannounced, without even a forward reservation, when normally it would take 6 months or longer to reserve a table, I tried my luck and asked brazenly for a table. It was a stroke of good fortune, that being a rather wet and cold night, many regulars had decided to cancel, so we were politely ushered into the main dining room.

                                                               I am in sushi heaven



After the meal, I declared that this was the best sushi I had EVER tasted, such was the high standards created by the food artists behind the sushi counter. Every single piece was an art work, and the flavours cannot be adequately described in a blog post. I will leave you with the picture of a plate of sushi, which if, it was an art piece, would be comparable to the Mona Lisa. 

9 pieces of raw heaven 

Keio Plaza Hotel, Shinjuku

Artwork from Sydney Australia, the Rocks 2001

                                         Our seashell framed artwork from Sydney, 2001

      This beautiful piece of artwork, showcasing the seashells taken off some beaches in Australia was bought at the Farmer's market at the Rocks, Sydney, I believe in 2001.
I was there with my wife and 2 sons on a family holiday and we were enthralled by this piece which occupies the pride of place at our living room.

      The artist who was a Singaporean but now an Australian, is a very well travelled and weathly person, from what we could gather talking with him. He had met many Singaporean top ministers and officials by virtue of his family. 

      The piece depicts all the different seashells and pasted on a sandy background. It provides the viewer a very calming experience. 

Geccopaige (egg shell) artwork from Ho Chih Minh City, Vietnam

                                                           Fisherman Night Fishing

        I bought this painting after a trip to Ho Chih Minh city in Vietnam in 2008. It is made from crushed eggshells and then glued onto the paint board after which the painting is done, and a final lacquer finish is layered over it.

       I actually bought 3 such paintings and gave 2 away to my good friends in Hungary and Slovenia when I visited them that year.

                                          Outside the famous Rex Hotel, HCM City


      The factory is located outside the city, and the workers are all victims of the horrendous Agent Orange (chemical warfare) bombing of the Vietnam war, there are people with some degree of blindness, limb deformation and the factory is one way to get them out of poverty providing art pieces, and generating some earned income.

      This art piece has pride of place in my home, I forgot how much I paid for it, but the satisfaction gained from looking at the painstaking effort to create such a piece is priceless.

Some Fruits is now part of my Breakfast Everyday

                                              Fruit Basket of 27th September 2015 

        Every Sunday, without fail, my wife and I make a beeline, together with our maid, to the Tiong Bahru open air market to purchase fresh fish, pork, chicken, vegetables and fruits. the whole exercise in the morning takes 1 to 1 and half hours depending on the busyness of the fish vendors who are doing a roaring trade every weekend.

        My task, has been to purchase fruits, and my normal stall is the corner large stall run by a family of 5, grandma, parents and 2 grown children. The young lady is studying at the NUS while the young man is serving his National Service. During weekends, they help out with the family business.

      This past Sunday I bought from them, Duku (some sweet brown fruit), plums from Korea, 2 avacados, mandarin oranges, Peckham pears, normal orange skinned pears, bananas, and small 'kum' or kumquats, which are very sweet and provide lots of Vit C nutrition.

     I have made a habit to eat fruits for breakfast as a) it helps in my digestion, and b) it is easy to digest first thing in the morning c) It gives me plenty of good bowel movement.

    I have made a concious decision to stay away from fried foods as much as I can, and taking steamed, grilled, porridges, soups as more of my main effort to remain healthy in this very unhealthy atmosphere with the haze hitting 240 yesterday.

    Take plenty of water, eat lots of fruits with meals and get enough sleep. That is my antidote to a healthy life. Oh, and minimise stress down to a manageable level. 

      

My Peanuts Cartoon Character !

                                                     Marco from Peanuts Comic Strip ;

      There is this Uber Cool software trending on Facebook whereby you can cartoonise yourself using the characters from Peanuts (Joe Schultz creator). Such a cool app, I must add. Try it out.
You choose your eyes, nose,eyebrows, mouth, hair, jacket, watch apparel, skin tone, pants and shoes.

                                                     This is supposed to be Me !!!

Travelling Days

At the Botanical Gardens Giessen, 2008 

Representing a top German brand Weiss from 1994 till 2012, I have had ample opportunity to travel to Europe, in particular Germany, many times. I have lost count, but easily 20 times or roughly once per year to Germany. The factory is located at the outskirts of the town of Giessen, and it is roughly a 45 minute ride from the Frankfurt Flughafen (airport).

The town is typical of many small towns in Germany, and lately I have noticed a very International flair to the population, with many Asians residing there, what with the Giessen University being a major draw, and the recent influx of migrants from Middle East and Africa making their presence felt. 

Atop the Tower overlooking Giessen town, Germany 2008

The people of this town have known international visitors for the longest time, I believe Weiss is one of the largest employers of the town and we have had international visitors since the early 90s. While I miss the international friends from the Worldwide Sales trainings of the past, I still am in touch with a good many on Facebook and social media, so interconnected is this world.

We now represent a HK and S Korean brand, so I have had much less opportunities to travel on business since 2011 to Europe. Hope this will change soon, as my company is now on the cusp of representing a Spanish brand from Barcelona. I cant wait to rekindle all my friendships with friends from UK, Bulgaria, Germany, Hungary, Slovenia and Czech Republic.  

At Chiang Mai Night Bazaar 2009 

    This year 2015 is a banner year heralding a new beginning for my business, with the worldwide economy in the downtrend, we are taking conservative steps to make sure we remain relevant and most importantly profitable for the years ahead. 

    Else, its time for a new change in direction. 

Cheers to new friends and treasure the long time friends

                                                 With Fang Kim Soon  and Hans Brys

       In my life, I am fortunate to acquaint myself with many people thanks to my business, hobbies, family, old school friends and travels. So here are 2 of my friends. This was taken on Sept 17th at Il Fiore, at Straits Trading Building Battery Road.

       I have known Hans for almost 2 years, I got to know him through Fang Kim Soon, an ex-banker from Societe Generale based in Hong Kong for the last 20 years. Hans is now in the food business, and very keen to get his pasta business off to a good start. It is called Pasta 101 and located at the basement of Chevron House, and his shop will start operations in October 2015. 

Hans booth was originally at the East Coast Park near C2 carpark 

  he has since relocated it to Chevron House in Oct 2015

      Using a specially prepared pasta sauce from Belgium, his pasta can be made in 1 minute and you can add your condiments and fillings such as cheese, chicken, ham.  My sons who have tried the take -out find it tasty, and at $7.50 per packet, it is good fast food at a decent price, with a great sauce to boot.

      Hans is originally from Belgium, and has extensive contacts in the Food and Beverage industry as well as in the music (CDs) business more than 20 years ago. He is married to a Singaporean and has lived here almost 20 years.  He is a doer, and is willing to try out new ventures aggressively.

     Wish you the Best of Business Luck, Hans !!! 

      Fang Kim Soon I have known since University days, 3rd year to be exact ; that is 30 years ago ! We were students from the then Nanyang Technological Institute, now University and had a ball of a time, living the undergraduate life playing football, triathalons, University debates, waterpolo and studies at the campus off Jalan Bahar.

      Kim Soon went off to Hong Kong to work, first as a dealer, then a broker, then went into general management for investment banks such as Soc Gen and UBS. He came back to Singapore in 2013, and is now a partner for his own head-hunting firm. 

        

                                      In Hong Kong 2008, had a lovely lunch at Lei 
                                      Chiu Chow Restaurant in Hutchinson House


     We have kept in touch over the years, and I treasure the fun times we had as well as the opportunities to do small business ventures together such as my health supplements, whereby I got to know Hans. 

    To my good friends and acquaintences, making money is not the be all and end all of life. 
  
     As Winston Churchill once famously said : "success is the ability to move from one failed venture to another with enthusiasm ". We seldom are successful in everything we do, so on balance, let us live life and manage what it throws to us good and bad. For then we will have truly experienced a full life.