My Cosy Corner - Great Peranakan (Straits Chinese) Food

Mee Siam Mai Ham (without the cockles as some clueless guy would say) 

Tucked away on the 2nd floor of Coronation Plaza along Bukit Timah Road is a small eatery selling all kinds of Peranakan food from its 15 table shop. Run by a Mr and Mrs Ng, it is your typical 'hole in the wall' eatery serving fantastic Peranakan or Straits Born Chinese food. The really top of the line dishes are as follows :

1. Mee Siam

2. Popiah

3. Kueh Pai Tee

4. Laksa

5. Mee Rebus

6. Bento boxes

7. Udon or Ramen noodles 

Practically everybody bar the students from the nearby Hwa Chong or National Junior Colleges would opt to eat either one or a combination of the first 3, as they are REAL AUTHENTIC and very tasty.

Recognition for My Cosy Corner was given during the 2014 Hawker Heroes Awards 

Ny favourite is the Mee Siam and the Pie Tee sets. Mee Siam without the prawn costs $4.80. Not cheap considering the others sold at the hawker centres cost $3.00 to $3.50 per plate. The secret to it being so tasty must be the stock or soup, which to this day I am clueless about. I just go there and eat with gusto ; it is practically a vegetarian meal to me.

The dish consists of vermicelli noodle soaked in a broth with fried tofu, bean spouts, spring onion, and some ground chilli. Perfection in a simple dish. For boiled prawns add an extra $1.00. It is really really good ! 

My second most favourite dish is the Kueh Pie Tee. It essentially is a small cupcake of fried flour, and you fill in the ingredient of boiled radish, add on some shaving of boiled egg with a topping of parsely and some ground chilli sauce. As the true blue Singaporean foodie would say,   " Damn Shiok !!" and then give 2 thumbs up !!   

The all time favourite is the Popiah or Vegetable Wrap and Madam Ng and her husband being the sole proprieters of this wonderful eatery, personally ensure the popiah is made right before your eyes and served to you piping hot. Again it is using a rather elastic rice flour wrap (akin to the Mexican wraps but with Chinese touch to it), add on the ubiquitous radish filling which is dripping with flavour, some ground nuts,shallots and some home made brown sauce for flavouring. You can add some ground cut chilli if you want some zing to it but I normally take mine without the chilli.

Their popiah is one of the best tasting in Singapore and has been featured many times on TV and won numerous awards.

If you want to go and dine at the eatery, I think it best to go around 11.30 am to ensure a no wait time, or after 2.30 pm. The most crowded times are from 12 - 2.00 pm. 

The stall does not open for breakfast, so 11.00 am till about 6.30 pm (last order) ; hence they only serve 1 meal a day and they are closed on Sundays.

The owners are staunch Catholics and the stall is adorned with numerous paintings, murals, and magnets of their travels to Israel and the Holy Land.

Our Run 13 April 2019 - Polar M340 Review

Our hard run starting at 7.30 am yesterday 13th April 2019  

I am slowly getting more resilient to the hot weather as I try not to be so lazy and sleep in most Saturdays. Felipe has been my regular running mate these last few months and I enjoy his 'push' to get me to run faster and longer.

Do take a look at the upload of the Polar M340 onto the Youtube with all the necessary data all recorded, HR, speed and distance all in one 'dashnoard'. 

I am getting faster, and hopefully will be able to lose some weight in the process ! 

Origin Grill - Shangri La ; 13 April 2019 My Review

The 300 g Wagyu M5 / 6 . Sorry for the blurred Picture 

Williams River Cross Bred Wagyu 400 days Grain Fed M5 / 6, Ribeye 300 g

We had a celebration yesterday and one of my sons recommended trying the Origin Grill at the Shangri - La. Located at the lobby level of the Tower Wing, we managed to book a table for 4 several days in advance.

SERVICE

The service was average, as while the restaurant was booked to capacity, the wait staff were a little overwhelmed or were slightly short handed. Other than the slight disappointment on the service standard, the food was EXCEPTIONAL in my humble opinion.   

The serving of the bread was rather slow, like an oversight on the wait staff, but the rest of the front of kitchen was prompt and attentive. 

ENTREES 

We (my family of 4) had the following :
1. half dozen of seasonal fresh oysters
2. pan seared Hokkaido scallops with coconut chilli jam
3. octopus charred with smoked paprika 
4.spaghetti tossed with heirloom tomatoes and basil.   

Spaghetti tossed with Heirloom Tomato and Basil - excellent with enough Al Dente bite

The spaghetti was really flavourful, the tomatoes were sauteed and tender with the correct Al Dente (bite) done the Italian way. There was a hint of garlic and extra virgin olive oil too. The last time we ate something as good and tasty as this was in the Michelin 2 starred restaurant Seti in Milan, Italy. 

The charred octopus was very tasty, tender and not chewy at all with the paprika adding to the burst of flavour to the dish One interesting add on was an eggplant puree which tasted like one of the puree side dishes with my Indian 'Thosai'.

Hokkaido scallops were very succulent and fresh, with a good bite size to it. The chilli jam was just nice, something which you normally find in the Thai sweet chilli sauces.  

Oysters were very fresh although we found it less 'creamy' than the perfect oyster. But very good nonetheless. Add a dash of Tabasco sauce and alls good !

Piece de Resistance ; 

John Stone Grass Fed Dry Aged 35 days Ribye 500 g

Hand Selected Cattle are matured using the traditional dey ageing 

method resulting in exceptional tenderness.

MAINS : 

The steaks we ordered were 1. John Stone Grass Fed Dry Aged 35 Days Ribeye 500 g

2.  Williams River Cross Bred Wagyu 400 days Grain Fed M5 / 6, Ribeye 300 g

Both steaks were exceptional in taste, presentation and doneness. We ordered medium (not medium well or medium rare) and they were both perfect. The JS (Australian) Wagyu was lean beef and with the bone, so the meat was slightly burnt outside and cooked (not bloody like the Florentine steaks of Bisteca) just nice which brought out a very good beef taste with nice burnt notes. 

The Wagyu was marbled around M5 / 6 so the fat content was higher but it tasted  oh so good. So tender and practically melts in your mouth !

The 800 g was shared between the 4 of us, so each of us ate roughly 200 g each.

I paired the steaks with the Hartenburg Shiraz which was excellent, albeit pricey at $29 per glass.

BLACKFOREST

Drunken sacher sponge cake soaked with amarena cherryand Caribe chocolate cream with coconut soil and cherry sorbet 

DESSERT 

We ordered 2 to be shared by the 4 of us, the Enchanted Black Forest (see picture above) and the Twisted Lemon Parfait.

The Blackforest sponge cake was a little bit of a letdown, as nothing really stood out from the mix. Perhaps if there was some dark chocolate added in as wafers it would have been a standout.

  TWISTED LEMON PARFAIT

Zesty lemon confit with touched maringue, yuzu montee,pistachio sponge and almond shortcrust. 

The lemon farfait was nice, not too sweet and a perfect complement to the Blackforest sponge cake. It was a little icy (confit) and the wafer shortcurst with the cream on top with yuzu and almond was a nice touch. Lovely.

Origin Grill is helmed by chef  Heidi Flanagan

My Rating :  Out of 5 

1. Food           5 / 5      ; practically everything was excellent, especially the steaks
2. Ambience   4.3 / 5   ; it was full that night, but tables used could have been lesser 
3. Service       4.0 / 5   : only downside was they seemed to be a little stretched at times 
                                      needing me to call them for extra bread. Pacing of food was 
                                      very good though

    Overall      4.4 / 5      Excellent 

4. Price           $$$$    ; 1 glass of Shiraz costs $29 and the Evian bottle cost $19.
    Bill for 4      $ 509   : $125 per pax (approx), acceptable for a 5* restaurant. 


Will we come back again ? Yes definitely. Its really a top notch restaurant.

ORIGIN GRILL, SHANGRI-LA HOTEL
Lobby Level, Tower Wing
22 Orange Grove Road
Singapore 258350 

Wolves you fought like Heros, Luck wasn't on your side last night. Keep the fire burning brightly ever

This is the writeup of the FA Cup Semi-Final held on Sunday night 7th April held in Wembley Stadium. Wolves had not reached this level of the competition in 20 years and there was an air of great anticipation amongst all the Wolves fans with 34,000 making the way down from the Black Country to London and the mood was really festive.   

Wolves had taken the lead with 2 beautiful goals from Matt Doherty and Raul Jiminez only to see Watford claw 1 back and in the last minute of regulation time, there was a penalty call on a trip by Dendonker. 

It was a tragic turn of events having played so fluently and brilliantly the whole match through.

Referee pointed to the penalty spot and captain Deeny hit the goal past Ruddy and it was 2  - 2

In extra time, Watford hit 1 more and went on to play in the final. 

Such is life. You get tough calls but we were not unbowed. We fought the good fight but it was not to be. 

Take the defeat in your stride and press on Wolves, you have a tremendous team with great talent, your guts, character and talent will get you places in the near future. I am sure of it.    

Humidity in Australia versus Humidity in Singapore ; a technical study on comfort.

The latent heat of vaporisation is the hidden heat which is taken from the environment to vaporise a liquid. For water, it is 22.5 kJoules per gram (22.5 kJ / g) of water when water is heated to 100 deg C. Hence 22.5 kJ is expended or 'lost' to the environment. The key point is that water evaporates at ALL temperatures to the environment and takes away heat from the surface where it was - hence the body which sweats and sweat evaporates, will feel cooler.

So during my trip to Canberra, I experienced temperatures of 25 deg C but with humidity of around 40% ; this means that the humidity in the air is 40% per cubic metre. The feeling even at 25 deg C is that while the sun is shining and the temperature is at 25 deg C, the dry air surrounding my body absorbs the sweat more quicker. Now when water evaporates, it does not necessarily need to evaporate at 100 deg C, so the sweat evaporates when my body is exercising or when it is hot (above 36.9 deg C) and hence sweat comes out through the pores.

Antibes Fishing Village Dec 2018 

Once there on my hands and legs, it will tend to evaporate fast and the heat lost by my body due to the latent heat of evaporation means my body gets cool.

Now I am sitting in my attic in my house writing this post, the temperature is also about 25 deg C, BUT the big difference is that the humidity in the air is a high 80% ; hence my body still operates well and sweat comes out. The big difference is that the sweat DOES NOT evaporate as fast due to the higher 80% humidity surroundings. Thus leaving the sweat on my arms and legs and with the salt content, I am sticky.

Pretty as a Picture, Antibes Village in Dec '18 wintertime 

Hence the feeling is an 'ugh' compared to an 'aaah' when I am in temperate countries like Australia or France.

That 'ugh' and 'aaah' feeling can and does contribute to our state of mind and sometimes tempers can blow when the body is uncomfortable in its environment. 

The solution, of course sit and play in an air conditioned environment and all will be solved.

Then, what about the environment outdoors ??? 

The late Lee Kwan Yew did once say that the most important invention of the 20th century (for the tropics anyway) was the air condition and the refrigeration system for chilling of food. 

Carpe Diem 
   

Tonight at 11pm (3 pm UK time) History will be Made ; FA Cup Semi - Final

With my Wolves Retro Shirt at the Driveway of my House 

I am a 'born again' fan of the Wolverhampton Wanderers. For almost 40 years, (bar the League Cup win over Aston Villa in 1980) Wolves have not won anything significant to date. 

So I am just so happy and excited as a  secondary schoolboy (yes I started following them when I was in Sec 1 or 13 years of age somewhere in 1975) that for the FIRST time in almost 20 years Wolves have reached the Semi-Finals of a domestic cup, the Football Association Cup or (FA Cup) and will pit their skills against a dominant Watford FC.

If Wolves can surmount the tough challenge (note that they have beaten 2 great clubs enroute to the Semis, namely Liverpool and Manchester United), then they will be in the Final for the first time in almost 60 years !

Thats even older than me !

I wait with bated breath and nervous anticipation. Can we do it ? Our boys are in top form but MUST stop the onslaught of a physical Watford.

The strikers are much on target recently, Jota has scored almost a goal a game except for the loss to Burnley since December and Jiminez has scored 15 goals in all competitions.For backup, there is the ever dependable Ivan Cavaleiro and the wonderboy Adama Traore.

The midfield must dominate over Watford's and Neves, Moutinho, Dendonker with support from Doherty and Johnny rannk among the best in the Premier League WHEN they play well.

Back 3 is also very very solid, Coady is knocking on England's door, while Boly and Bennett or Saiss are so so dominant they kept out Man Utd's top strikeforce of Lukaku, Pogba, Martial, Rashford and Ramos. If they can remain as strong, I have no doubt they will keep a clean sheet because John Ruddy at the back is as solid as a rock.  

My prediction : Wolves to win 2 - 0.

Trip to Canberra and Melbourne 2 - 6th April 2019

The structure outside the AIS Institute of Sports

I have just finished a 5 day trip for business and leisure to Canberra and Melbourne. The first leg is for work, so my colleague Jason and I took the flights from SG to Melbourne (7  hr 30 mins) and then onto Canberra (1 hour 10 mins) seamlessly. Upon arrival at check in at the hotel, we carried on to visit our customer at the UCRISE or Canberra University Institute of Sports and Exercise. That meeting went well and we then proceeded to follow through on the rest of our trip. Jason had some further checks on the equipment, while I was the 'spare man' and decided to make a visit to my long lost relatives in Melbourne. More of that in a later post.

Bush at the Bruce Ridge outside our villa 

Bruce suburb is north of the Town Centre, and Canberra (called the Australian Capital Territory) is about 250 km due southwest from Sydney and about 220 km north east of Melnourne. The city of approximately 300 thousand odd residents is home to the Australian Parliament House (see below).This picture  below was taken in 2017 and both times I came around autumn time (Apr - June) and the weather was perfect, cool at 15 - 20 deg C in the day with humidity hovering in the 40 - 50% rH. 

Perfect for outdoor running, cycling and physical sports. The city is quite spread out, and their is a rising number of Asian immigrants, residents or visitors coming to work, study and play as typified by the food court at the shopping centre in town. Easily 50% of the shops sell Asain cuisine (if I can call economy rice "cuisine" !).   

House along Manuka Avenue in centre of town 

I would say that Australia is a country where a person can have time and space to himself to be 'in the present'. There are plenty of trails and open spaces where walks can be had, people can have time to interact with each other in a meaningful way and there is some semblance of inclusiveness for all communities - although I say this in a time where the world in general is reeling from many attacks and misunderstandings of the new migrant cultures coming in and changing much of the landscape, and also messing with the much held traditions and social fabric of Australia.  

We stayed at a dual bedroom villa off  Bencollen Way 

Canberra, it is my fervent wish I have more business opportunities with the UCRISE and I can come visit and appreciate more of the lifestyle, people and culture of what many people call the Lucky Country.