Magma

Today we got a visitor from Hong Kong. He came over to our company to give us a talk. In the evening, my boss wanted to give him a treat and asked me along. Initially, we wanted to go to East Coast seafood center but our visitor said he has a run last night and scare his stomach cannot endure seafood. So in the end, we went to a German restaurant called Magma. It is located quite near to Outram. We ordered quite a lot of dishes but I feel many are not up to my taste. I ordered a pumpkin soup. I feel it is not as nice as I have drunk somewhere else. Then, we ordered and shared a sausage platter. This dish luckily tastes nice. After that I ordered a pork knuckles. The meat is nice but the roasted skin tastes too much like charcoal.


Here comes the funny part. My boss has been to this restaurant before and ate a very nice dessert. But he dun know the name. So he described to the waiter and the waiter points to the menu for his dessert. But when it comes, it is not what my boss wanted. After a few questions, my boss found out that this special dessert could not be found in the menu and only one German chef there knows how to make it! So in the end, we did not get to eat this. My boss swears to eat it the next time round. Haa!!

Hot weather!

Lately the weather becomes very hot!! Every night I must switch on air con then can sleep! I think temperature goes above 30 degrees Celsius!!!!!

Green Banyan

Today my boss treats us lunch at Jurong Country Club. The reason is that he is promoted! So this calls for a celebration and I made a booking at the restaurant called Green Banyan. There is this lunch set which cost about $30 per person which consists of a main course and free flow of tea, soup, dessert, bread and salads! I personally love soups a lot and I drank 3 bowls! Haha. I ordered a sausage platter which I feel is not bad. But my friend ordered lamp chop which looks even more delicious. I feel the money is quite well spent cos the food amount is ample and tastes great.

NUS Club

I just received an invitation letter from NUS to join their club. I feel weird as I am not from that school. So I wonder how they got my particulars. Any way, the joining fee I think is about $3k. Since I am not once their students, so I feel quite pointless for me to join.

Jumbo

I just back from a treat. Someone having birthday and so I was invited to Jumbo at East Coast Park for dinner. As usual, we order chilli and pepper crabs. These are the must order food since it is one of the most famous dish in Singapore. Then we ordered some vegetables, lobsters and noodles. Overall, the food is quite nice expect it is not that "jumbo" as I tot especially the chili crabs. We ordered 2 crabs and when they served, the portion looks small. Maybe it is the plate. Haha. It is not as generous as No Signature when I went about 1 months+ ago. So I think I will choose No Signature for the generous good food.

The Forbidden Kingdom

I just back from watch The Forbidden Kingdom by Jet Li and Jackie Chan. The highlight of this movie is the fight between these two action stars. The 10+ mins duel is quite nice. There are some jokes and the english pronunciation are not bad especially Liu Yifei and Li Bingbing. The special effects are nice but not tip top kind. But the story plot is way off. It is a twisted plot of Journey to the West legend where monkey god has to be freed. Haha. But the let down is that the ultimate bad guy is not powerful enough. This is the disappointing part and makes the ending too simple. But overall, this movie is still watchable.

Nanjing 南京

I just came back from a 5D4N Nanjing (南京) trip. It is a 5 hours plane ride from Singapore. This time I went over to this place for an official visit to a local university - South East University (东南大学).


I stayed at the hotel in the university which is called Liu Yuan Hotel(榴园宾馆) . It is a 3 stars hotel in charge by South East University. It is rather easy access to the school and room rate is quite affordable at RMB320 (~S$64) with all the necessities. But the breakfast is rather bad. Very typical Chinese breakfast and the timing is short. They only open from 7am - 9am. Lazy bum who wake up late, you are on your own.


Besides the visit to school, I did get sometime to shop and visit some tourist spots. They are:

1. Fu Zi Miao (夫子庙): This is the place where scholars take the imperial exam during the ancient times. Now it is area of shopping and local food such as smelly bean curd (臭豆腐), Bing Tang Hu Lu (冰糖葫芦) etc... There are many restaurants and fast food in these areas.


2. Ming Xiao Ling (明孝陵): This is the tomb of the first emperor of Ming dynasty (明朝) - Zhu Yuan Zhang (朱元璋).


3. Zhong Shan Ling (中山陵): Just next to Ming Xiao Ling is the tomb of the founder of KMT (国民党) who overthrown the Qing dynasty (清朝) - Sun Zhong Shan (孙中山). I feel that this mausoleum is much grander and nicer than Ming Xiao Ling.


4. Xuan Zhuang Si (玄奘寺): This is the temple where the ashes of Tang San Zang (唐三藏) is located. If you are familiar with the Chinese novel Journey to the West (西游记), then you should know who he is. Fann Wong (范文芳) also visited this place before and took a photo with the Abbot of this temple.


5. Zhong Hua Men (中华门): This is the wall built during the Ming dynasty to protect the city from enemies. It took 21 years to completely built the 32km long wall and is the grandest of all city wall in China.

6. Xuan Wu Lake (玄武湖): A very large park with nice scenery.

Canadian Pizza

Today we ate at the new canteen. It has Canadian Pizza! We ordered 3 regular ones. They takes quite a while to make but still bearable. The Pizza is quite nice. But cannot eat this often. Ex and not to mentioned fattening!

三国之见龙卸甲 Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon

I just came back from watching Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon. I feel it is not too bad. But too much of such shows for the past few years and mostly acted by Andy Lau will make you feel confused or bored. This show only takes a bit of the history and create a story of Zhao Zilong (Zhao Yun) acted by Andy Lau. The rest of the casts have very minor role. Maggie Q looks weird in the show and appears only at end of the show. She is more like guest starring and Sammo Hung is like a supporting cast. The fighting scenes are ok but looks too familiar in other similar shows. Overall, it is watchable.

Secret Recipe

I just went for dinner at Secret Recipe in VivoCity and it is rather a bad experience. Firstly, they dun served ice water but rather we have to pay $0.50 for a bottle of distilled water. I always dislike going to such restaurant which dun serve free flow of ice water cos I feel the cost for such thing is low. Next, I order a pumpkin soup and my friend order a mushroom soup. Both are disappointing. The pumpkin soup tastes like prata curry and mushroom soup tastes quite bland.


Then, I order a chicken as main dish. The food is served quite fast and it looks tasty. But who knows I eat until halfway I saw a string or hair in my chicken!!! The saving grace is I asked for a replacement and it is done without question asked.


I also order a green apple juice which tastes well, luckily! Overall, I feel not quite a good feeling. Maybe I will just buy the cake or dessert and skip the meal.

Nokia E90

Lately I purchase Nokia E90 out of fun. It is to replace by dying Nokia N80. So far I had used it for a week and I totally love it. Though it may looks big and heavy for many, I feel it suits me perfectly. Makes me look very professional and macho. Haha!!!! Any way, this piece of equipment has many cool functions and so far so good for me. I am going to explore it more. Hope it can last me for at least another year.

Claypot Chicken Rice

Today I went to eat claypot chicken rice at Clementi. It is recommended by a friend. He brought me to this place which I dun even know it existed. It uses charcoal to cook the thing. Very traditional. But it takes quite sometime. We waited for about 30 mins before our food comes. 4 of us ate $15 set. Hee.. It is quite nice.