Bus Ride Sights: Jln Eunos-Kallang

How is it that I ended up taking so many pictures on what is a relatively short bus ride, I don't know.

Perhaps I hadn't been very pleased with the pictures of this same route which I'd taken some time earlier, so this time out came Chonkycam (again) and she got busy snapping away. 

The route today began from the bus stop along Jalan Eunos between Jalan Awang and Jalan Ismail. 

From there the bus went straight, passing by the building that held the now renovated Veganburg, the junction near the (new) polyclinic, then made a right into Geylang Road. 

Here the bus passed by a well-known Management Training Institute, another building that I know held a couple of offices, a petrol station, and finally the bus stop that I know marks roughly the starting point of the enclave we call Geylang Serai. 

It is at this bus stop you get down if you want to go to Joo Chiat Complex and the shops on Joo Chiat Road. 

It is also here that you usually will get down if you want to go to the wet market right opposite the road. 

But the bus stop for the Haig Road Market and Hawker Center is the next one, and that's where you get down if you want to have putu piring or go to KINEX, the shopping mall next door. 

The shops at this Haig Road side are somewhat interesting.

Let's just say that they've got a bit of heartland vibe, and so you can expect a Cheers, a 24 hour fruit stall, a couple of household shops and Swee Heng Confectionary with a selection of the most delish breads and cakes on sale there. 

There's now a (new) coffee shop here as well.

From here the bus went on towards the precinct that we commonly refer to as Geylang, passing by some shops which I've since come to recognize.

There was the (old) Sian Chay Medical Institution where they offer free water from the water cooler outside their clinic so thirsty passersby can fill up their bottles. 

There was also the JB Restaurant that I went to once and which I know is famous for their (very Malaysian-style) Sam Lor Bee Hoon. 

After that came a host of random shops, including a laundry shop, then a couple of hair salons, then after that, several coffee shops that sometimes double up as restaurants. 

There're a lot of hair salons along this stretch, one must note, but they're all at random spots here and there, so you don't really notice until you come upon one. 

There're some iconic buildings this stretch of Geylang Road however.

Like the Lai Ming Hotel, which the more I look at it, the more I think it has a history and a story that goes beyond the street-style perspective of present-day Geylang. 

Then there's the Eastern Aerated Water Company which I am pretty sure too has a story of its own to share. 

It's buildings like these that often make me wonder just what Geylang used to be like. 

Surely the Aerated Water building here was meant to quicken supply to their customers.

What sort of business was it that used to be carried out? 

Who were the people that patronized this area often?

Where did they come from? 

Perhaps there's a reason why parts of Geylang have been quietly preserved this way. 

No doubt, there'll be some who think of this area as seedy and dangerous, but if you look hard enough- parts of Geylang actually do give off a small-South East Asian-town vibe. 

There was no time for me to be thinking about these things today.

The bus trundled on, first passing by a couple of handphone shops, then a condo apartment with really long balconies overlooking the main road, then a coffee shop selling what I think is claypot frog porridge of some sort, and finally what I think is a nightclub/pub with a really huge synthwave (neon) signboard. 

Like every other place that has a neon signboard, whether they be a salon, a handphone shop, a massage parlor, or a club, this spot would stand out at night, for sure. 

I haven't had much of a chance to drop by this area at night when twilight has fallen and dusk has come. 

Maybe one day I might do one of those late afternoon series just to watch where the rays of the evening sun shine. 

But today I was on the bus, and the bus carried me on, taking me past the last row of shop houses somewhere along Geylang Lorong 1, past the open field that once used to be part of Kallang Airport and finally the junction leading towards Kallang MRT. 

The EUNOS Bak Chor Mee

Okay, so I don't really understand how it is, but out of all the foods that I've eaten, and written about, for some reason- for some complicated reason- I've never written about bak chor mee.

It's not that I don't eat it.

Neither is it that I don't like it.

It's just one of those dishes that doesn't come to mind straightaway when I'm at a hawker center or coffee shop, and even though I don't mind a good bowl of dumpling noodles or wanton mee (like the one at Joo Chiat), it's very, very seldom that I go order a bowl of bak chor mee and take a picture to write about it.

Maybe it's because I don't know what makes a good bak chor mee, and worse still, I also don't know where the good ones are. 

But then one day the office moved to a place near Eunos.

And right behind the bus stop outside Eunos MRT was Hong Li Coffee Shop whose bright lights not only signal her presence, but also hosts a variety of stalls that include a Western food stall, a Roasted Meats stall, a Cai Fan stall, a Bak Kut Teh stall, an Economical Noodle stall, and also an (apparently) well known stall selling Bak Chor Mee.

Oblivious me did not know how popular it was until one weekday evening where, instead of herbal bak kut teh, rice and youtiao, I hopped over to try.

And now I've fallen in love.

Oy, don't raise a sceptic eyebrow at this seemingly simple bowl of noodles. 

It might look ordinary, maybe even not so big a deal, but gawd it packs a punch in portion and flavor and really (to date at least) is the only stall whose bak chor mee I will eat. 

Yes, yes, I know that there're other (maybe) better stalls out there.

But this one- with a 100 year old history- doesn't lose out in terms of heritage either. 

One thing I like about this bak chor mee is, I'd say, the sauce, which although I don't know what exactly it is that the guy at the stall ladles into my bowl when I order it dry (tomato sauce, no chili), it's got a roundedness that embraces my tongue and with each pull of noodles, I find myself savoring the taste of savory, vinegary sour and a faint hint of tomato sweet. 

It's a great blend.

Nothing about the sauce overwhelms. 

And I don't find the noodles or the minced meat oily or greasy in any way either. 

That's not to say that the portion is small.

On the contrary (compared to some other stalls I've patronized) they give a rather generous heap of minced pork on top of the noodles, and accompanying that, a fair bit of pork lard along with it as well. 

Come to think of it, I don't know whether I like the minced meat or the pork lard better. 

On one hand I like how they've done the minced meat- it's been ground to an itty bitty size that makes it easy to swallow together with the noodles- but the lard adds that much coveted taste of fried pork whilst tossing out to you the fun of crunch when you take a spoonful of noodles.

It won't surprise me if the portion's been calibrated enough that you can put on your spoon a swirl of noodles, some minced meat, some sauce, and a single piece of lard every time.

There's much to like about this bowl of bak chor mee. 

Like how I get to choose the noodles. 

Where, even though the dish is called bak chor mee, finicky person that I am prefers kuay teow over mee or bee hoon or all the other options, and this stall allows me to choose kuay teow here. 

And then there's the soup, which, again, I don't know what goes into it or how long it takes to boil it, but you're filled with a sense of warmth when you drink it and which, because it's relatively clear, refreshes your palate both at the same time.

Stroll Sights: Jln Eunos-Bedok Reservoir

It was one of those days where I'd gotten back early to the 'hood but because didn't feel like going back home straightaway decided it better that I take a wander in the neighborhood elsewhere.

At first I wasn't sure where I ought to go.

Should I, for instance, go along Jalan Ismail and then turn into Lengkong Tiga and see where else my feet would lead me?

Or should I stay on this path along Jalan Eunos and then turn into Jalan Daud before going along and further beyond? 

I really didn't know.

So to Google Maps I went, and almost right away decided that there was more than enough time for me to take a longer walk, make a larger round, and visit Bedok Reservoir on the other side of the expressway. 

Getting to the slip road from the bus stop between Jalan Awang and Jalan Ismail meant walking along a path that I had been walking nearly every day for a couple of weeks now.

What's interesting though was that I'd never quite seen the path look the way it did this late afternoon- gloriously illuminated in the sunshine.

It might have been the light.

It might have been the atmosphere.

But all at once I found myself taking special notice of things which I hadn't noticed before- like how the light cast symmetrical shadows over the granite ground, like how the houses on the street away from the path shone in the sunshine, and how in the many interim parks the foliage of trees and shrubs brightened their green. 

There're a good number of interim parks along this stretch.

How many there are exactly I don't know- I don't count- but there's the Jalan Ismail Interim Park, there's the Jalan Awang Interim Park and there's the Jalan Daud Interim Park. 

Out of these three, I'm probably most familiar with the last one.

It's got a fascinating array of trees which, when planted together, remind me somewhat of evergreen firs- kind of incongruent with the tropical climate that we have here- and which give off a sort of cool, wintry grey vibe.

I dont' suppose it's got anything to do with the fact that it's at the entrance of the slip road, but, then again, who knows? 

There just might be.

But there was no time to stop this afternoon, however, and from this spot near the Jalan Daud Interim Park, I crossed the zebra crossing and entered under the PIE expressway. 

Over on the other side, a short path led me to a small plant nursery- the Eco Scape Garden Center, actually- which sits quietly by the side of the road behind the bus stop. 

Then, not too far after that, a right I made, and turned into the stretch that was Bedok Reservoir Road. 

I'm beginning to find this road rather interesting.

Not so much about the road itself-  urban planning has made a road nothing more than just a road, but now that I'm seeing these pictures, it won't surprise me that Bedok Reservoir Road be like one of those roads which have been there a long time, and which, if you follow along, will unveil and reveal themselves to you. 

There was no time for me to do the entire stretch this evening (I'll have to do it on Daffy one day) but let's just say I got quite interested in the way this area was laid out.

First of all there was space.

Not the sort of space that we sense in certain suburban districts, but the sort of space that you find in mature housing estates where the pavements are wider, the width of roads are also wider, and whatever's on the opposite side seems much further than what it really might be. 

That being said, it might have been the traffic.  

Or the lack of it. 

I was a little surprised to find the roads so quiet, because in my head, Bedok Reservoir Road is one of those roads that works as a thoroughfare, connecting you from one end of Eunos Link to parts of Kaki Bukit to the parts in between all the trees, along the reservoir proper, and all the way up to Tampines Avenue 1, Pasir Ris and Changi.

Maybe there'll come a time where I'll do this route on Daffy up to Tampines and IKEA.

But for today I took in the sights around me, like the interesting juxtaposition of housing board flats on one side, the terraced houses, and the condominiums on the other. 

I'm not sure if it was deliberate. 

Or why this side of Bedok Reservoir Road was planned this way. 

But there she was, with her space, her blocks of flats, her traffic lights, and her shops sitting snug amongst housing blocks of two distinctive designs.

Somewhere along the way I passed by a large fenced up field that had flags fluttering in the breeze, a large Chinese temple at the far end, and then after that, there were more housing blocks- painted blue and white, a row of neighborhood shops- provision, coffee shop and the like, stretched out under the void deck.

And then there was a school, with a huge drain running alongside.

Peace of Mind

To be honest, I don't know if I should be writing about this and I don't know (I'm afraid actually) that it may bring about a consequence which I don't wish to have, but there's perhaps something about this place being the very first picture that I snapped in the year of 2024. 

We were there for what I call a maintenance appointment. 

Not for me, but for an elderly who, due to very unfortunate circumstances several years ago, went through a bout of depression and so came here to see a Professor whom, thankfully, after all these years, continues to see her elderly patients here at the clinic in the Institute of Mental Health. 

Today everything was good, thank God- just the usual round of maintenance medicine required. 

However, coming to this place so early in the year made me think about myself, about the year past, and how it had been. 

I'm just going to say it as it is.

It wasn't good. 

Now I'm not going to say that it was completely bad- that wouldn't be fair to those who love me, those who look after me, those who have helped me and who continue to help me- but I have to admit that not for one day since early January of 2023 have I woken up feeling free and filled with zest to face the day. 

I mean, let's start with the fact that Night Owl me who used to sleep at 2am (waking up at 9) now wakes up at 630-645am no matter how late the previous night I've gone to bed. 

It's been like this for a whole year, now even more. 

I long for a day where I can sleep past 830am. 

I long for a day where I can not have to waste a precious hour in the evening speaking to persons whom I don't wish to speak to except for the sake of keeping the person happy (when there was never that much of a need to).

I'm tired of doing things for persons who take up so much of my time that I can't do anything else or have to factor those persons' s*** in.

And I'm tired of wasting a day getting stuff for persons who actually can jolly well do it themselves. 

What hurts isn't merely the time and the effort and the hassle. 

What hurts is that the appreciation given is just another tool to keep doing.

Still that's something one can try to cope with.

But what makes it impossible is the toxicity.

What makes it difficult to breathe is the level of control administered where subjugation (as a renowned psychiatrist told me) is a way of life. 

This is beyond mere control. 

This is a situation where persons tell you to do what to do, exactly how to do it, and hell become yours if you do it any other way. 

I've not been able to shut out the toxicity that sweeps upon me (in my head!) every time I have to do something for the persons. 

Neither have I been able to be comfortable and trusting because whatever interaction carries deep within it deceit, evil, self-centeredness, domination, and malice. 

There was a time I stopped the smile in the interactions.

Later I realized it got worse for me when I stopped the smile. 

So now I continue the lie to smile.

But tenterhooks and stomach churns do s*** to you. 

Perhaps all I long for is to have peace of mind. 

Peace of mind to truly be myself without having to 'devote' time to this and that and this and that. 

Peace of mind to live without having to balance two lives of which they must never, never, never intertwine. 

Tell you honestly?

I want to sleep.

I want to sleep and sleep and sleep.

I won't do it deliberately. 

There're visuals that I have that prevent me from trying to fall asleep.

It's not fair to those who love me and those who have helped me if I go through day on day with a black, sourpuss face. 

It's also not fair to those who have chosen to help me and solve s*** for me as much as one can. 

So even though I'm very, very, very tired, I try to heal.

This battle needs to be won. 

And I need to rest, I need to really, really heal.

Iberico @ Dian Xiao Er

Not wise it is, I tell you, to begin a post about food at 11pm at night when you're hungry but can't eat because you're fasting for a blood test that you have to take the very next morning.

What impulse it was that made me begin writing about a fatty piece of iberico pork from Dian Xiao Er, I don't know. 

But I don't like leaving things off when I've already started, so decided to continue.

Big mistake.

I got so hungry.

Not that I could make a hasty order for this dish eleven o'clock at night, but I'm pretty sure it's going to be on the order list when I go back to the restaurant next time. 

Dian Xiao Er has quite a variety of dishes suited for all ages.

Whether you be the sort who likes soups, vegetables, eggs, poultry, staples, appetizers or meat, this restaurant has it all. 

Of course their signature star dish is the roast duck which they serve with Angelica Herb sauce, or Tang Kwei sauce, and you'd be best not to miss out when you come eat here. 

We've been taking the duck with Tang Kwei sauce most of the time, but in recent days, it's not just the duck that we've taken a liking to.

There's also this- the Iberico Pork done Char Siew style- which I've had, I think, at least twice, and which, to me, is one of the more interesting dishes at Dian Xiao Er here.

It's a little hard to explain just why this dish is so good. 

At first glance it seems like an ordinary plate of char siew.

Which well might be, except that it somehow grabs your attention and lingers deep inside your mind for a very long time after.

To someone who's trying it for the first time, it might be the skin on the top of each slice that stands out.

To another, however, it might be the fat, or the caramelized sweetness of the char siew that (so far) I've found unparalleled to any other.

I take a great fancy to the skin of this char siew. 

At first glance, it might seem like a little burnt (like why is it so dark?), but poke at it with your chopsticks (if you can), and you'll find that there isn't any chao ta taste on the skin, and instead of a top which you have to painstakingly scrape off, you get a layer that's crisp, crunchy and chewy similar to the crackling tops of siew yok that most people know and love. 

It isn't just the skin of this dish that I've taken a fancy to, however.

There's also the fat. 

Which, even though it would be controversial diet-wise to some of us, is in fact the star of this dish, and a waste it would be if there were none of it at all. 

Fortunately the guys here at Dian Xiao Er do it rather well, and once you've gotten used to the spongy, collagen-like chew, once you've gotten used to the burst of natural oils that spring forth from the fat, this distinctive flavor, and texture, is exactly what you'll think of when you contemplate your order the next time. 

I've come to appreciate the flavors, and the chew, of the fat in this char siew. 

But more than that, it is the caramelized sweetness of the meat which I've come to love. 

Simply because I don't think I'll be able to find a piece of char siew this soft, this spongy, this tasty, and this sweet, at anywhere. 

Steppyhouse Meals

There're a lot more these pictures where they come from. 

And, what with the amount of cooking that we're doing these days in Steppyhouse, a lot more I anticipate there will be. 

It's been a time of experimentation for us.

Not just only with the ingredients and the manner of cooking, but also with the place, and the time. 

Our initial plan, when we first moved to Steppyhouse, was to do all our cooking at the open-air patio upstairs.

Which we did for the first couple of meals, cooking up a storm using leftover basmati rice, frozen chicken pieces, frozen sliced iberico pork. and, at another time, instant Hokkaido Miso ramen in Little Blue Pot.  

Not too long afterwards however we began to realize just how much of a hassle it was having to bring all the cooking equipment, the plates, the oils, the sauces, the ingredients, the cooking utensils and the dining cutlery up and down the stairs.

So we modified. 

And in recent times, we've begun cooking out at the balcony where it's much easier to run in and out with ingredients, plates, cutlery, and cooking equipment in hand.

There's still the need to plug and unplug the extension cord.

There's also the need to dodge the heavy plastic curtain whilst balancing everything and have our meal at a really low wooden pallet balcony table.

But it's been fun.

And much easier too it has become.

Out of the many dishes that we've begun to make in the past weeks, there're some that really, really stick out in the memory. 

Like this one- a huge mountain of leftover basmati rice from Sakunthala that we decided to fry with leftover Thai green curry and which, I will say, made for one of the most delicious meals outside of mutton briyani and green curry beef.

I loved that the rice wasn't very wet, neither was it very dry.

Maybe an induction cooker lets you control the heat as well as a stove might do. 

Another dish that I fell in love with, and which we also made using the induction cooker, was frozen chicken breast cut into pieces cooked with rice dabaoed from the chicken rice stall, and scrambled eggs. 

Don't ask me which was it I preferred. 

Let's just say that eggs are much easier to eat than chicken breast. 

And I like them anyway- be they scrambled or fried or soft boiled or sunny side up, and it doesn't matter to me how they're done just so long as they're delish and good. 

Everything in the pictures here makes it look like we've been eating a lot of rice, and, yes, we have- much of our daily meals have carbs in the form of rice here and there. 

Most of the time, that is, including that one time where, above what I think is leftover sushi rice, we pan-fried pieces of gorgeous foie gras goose liver fat. 

But it isn't just rice that we've been making.

There've also been potatoes.

So far we've decided to make it a rosti- complete with washing, peeling, shredding, and pan-frying of a single potato before we serve it up with whatever we've decided to have that day. 

This afternoon there was frozen bacon in the freezer.

There also was leftover grilled salmon belly in the fridge.