More SteppyYums

We've been eating more at home the last couple of weeks, and I'm beginning to love it. 

Now, at first glance of the plates, it seems to look the same, nothing varied, nothing different. 

But look harder and you'll notice the amount of creativity, and level of versatility that goes into each and every meal.

No two plate looks the same.

No two plate tastes the same.

Maybe it is all the sauces or the marination or the pastes that the chef comes up with, but whether it be fried with basil kra pow, whether it be fried with green curry paste, or whether it be done with a mix of organic soy sauce, organic fish sauce, sesame oil, or some other concoction which I don't know, everything is different.  

We tend to have several kinds of meat- there's minced chicken, minced beef, beef patties, frozen chicken breast, and shabu shabu sliced pork (which I especially like)

We used to have a big bag of frozen foie gras but we finished it and have yet to buy more. 

In recent days we have had the addition of frozen shrimp prawns, cute little ones they are, and they are fast becoming our only contribution to seafood.

Of course we have the veggies. 

There aren't as many here- funnily enough we have never gotten tomatoes- but we've had frozen spinach, frozen broccoli, and chilled asparagus, which is what the chef usually takes whilst I have half a stalk sometimes. 

Meat and vegetables aside, there is also, of course, the eggs.

Eggs are a staple in this household. 

We never, or hardly, run out of them. 

I love eggs.

I love how versatile they are and I love how the chef makes them.

There are days when we have them fried sunny side up served with chunks of chicken breast marinated with organic soy sauce and a combination of other sauces that I now cannot remember. 

There are days where we have them done omelet style with frozen broccoli and frozen shrimp thrown into the mix. 

And there are days when the eggs are made scrambled style with spinach stirred inside. 

It is, however, the marination and the sauces that always I fancy. 

One never knows what will be going with what, so on some days I'll be getting shabu shabu style meat fried with green curry paste. 

On other days, however, I'll be having minced chicken with a huge dose of basil kra pow paste that has to be one of the spiciest pastes I have had yet to date. It looks really ordinary- this paste- but just a little bit and the entire meal transforms. 

I don't have yet a picture of the beef patty. 

Then again, I just might have.

In this picture above. 

Except that you can't really see it, distracted as it is by the little bits of youtiao we had with mayonnaise, and the very well stuffed jiaozi dumplings someone had gifted to us and I really, really, really wanted to have. 

They might be regular foods to some, but it is a very pleasant dish to me- I love how the skin is soft and smooth but the filling is solid, tasty, tender, slightly mushy yet having the crunch of water chestnut and chives both at the same time. 

I wish I had access to more of these (homemade?) dumplings, seriously.

They're so good I could just have them as a full meal and not feel dissatisfied one bit at all.  

Hedgehog's Birthday

End of September now, so no better time than to write about Hedgehog's birthday celebration that took place in July this year. 

I wont' say I have mixed feelings about his birthday celebration this year. 

But I will say that I had thought about our celebration last year, and the difference between this year and the last. 

But every birthday is a meaningful one. 

Every birthday, whatever life is, holds a quiet significance, and is meant to be loved, meant to be shared, meant to be wished. 

I'd have loved to share more, to contribute more, to gift something meaningful even. 

But we share stuff, Hedgehog and I, and so I was glad to go along with anything and everything he wanted. 

Including his annual birthday card. 

One of the things we always like to do when it comes to birthdays is the food. 

We always aim to go for foods that the birthday person likes, foods that mean something to us, foods that mean something to the birthday one. 

So the birthday lineup this year included rosti, zichar, pizza, Thai, and dim sum. 

I'm not surprised by the pizza and the rosti. 

I'm also not surprised by the Thai and the dim sum.

I am, however, surprised by the zichar. 

Because whilst I know Hedgehog loves his pizzas and his rostis and his ice creams and his dim sums, he's never been a super huge fan of zichar dishes, save for Beef Black Pepper Rice, Venison Black Pepper Rice, and Yi Mian. 

So, trust me, I got really surprised when at a zichar place in Toa Payoh he ordered these.

It would be no surprise to me if he had chosen a few rounds of pizzas and rostis over these, especially if the rostis are big and nice and crispy and come served with smoked salmon, or if the pizza has that kind of keto keto feel with a crust made of sourdough layered with one raw egg and parma ham on top. 

It would also be no surprise to me if he had chosen just the Yi Mian at the stall- that's what he's familiar with and that's what he likes. 

But to have a plate of sweet and sour pork (?) chicken (?), to have a plate of crispy cube-shaped tofu, and another plate of salted egg chicken? 

That's triply cool. 

I am thankful to have shared all these foods with Hedgehog.

They make the celebration so much more meaningful. 

Whether it be the dessert from Tuk Tuk Cha, whether it be the dim sum from Swatow Seafood, or whether it be the memorable chicken wings from the pizza place in Serangoon Avenue 3, I'm thankful. 

Beyond the food is the companionship that we share, beyond the companionship is the understanding that we have of each other, what one likes, what one doesn't like, what memories are there, what memories are not.

It is this that makes the relationship special.

It is this that makes every meal big or small or frequent or unique, precious and treasured and special. 

There can be times when you share a bowl of noodles with someone and it feels overwhelming, torturous, unloved, sadistic, maniacal. 

But blessed are the times when, whatever they might be, you give each other a forkful more of potato rosti, the last slice of smoked salmon, have fluffy char siew paus one each, or pick out deep fried dim sum. 

That's what makes the birthday a joy to have, a celebration, a presence of which both are thankful for each other.

Skewers @ Smith Street

So I tend to be more complimentary than to be critical when it comes to writing in the blog, but once in a while- once in a very rare while- I find myself writing about places that seem, shall we say, underwhelming, and which, perhaps, I think, could do with more.

I don't think it's the primary fault of the place. 

It's just how life is, how business works, and how there're times when you try to give as much as you can but someone else just happens to be giving more. 

I can't say I didn't have a very good time here at this place on Smith Street.

There have been worse. 

But it does get a wee bit disappointing when it is a dinner that you've skipped lunch for, and after that, at table, after you've placed your orders, find yourself served with food that feels somewhat underwhelming. 

Was it that what it is, or was it that our expectations had been raised?

We've had Chinese-style grilled marinated meats at other places before. At those places we're selective with our orders, choosing the kind of meats that we like (namely lamb and beef) that have been marinated with a variety of spices that grant us a host of different flavors. 

With such experiences, we had come here thinking, expecting that we'd have the same experience, but in a buffet, value-for-cost kind of way. 

But, well, there were as many misses as there were hits. 

And I'm wondering if it's because we had set too high a benchmark to compare. 

See, it wasn't that there was lack of variety. 

Neither was it that the food was bad. 

But, short of hot, tasty-looking, glistening, smoke-scented meats to come to our table, the ones that arrived seemed harder and tougher than we had hoped for. 

What's more, because the staff brought out all our orders at one go at the same time, (or maybe because we were sitting under the aircon), some of our skewers got cold by the time we worked through the plate to the end of the pile. 

It might have been just us. 

The table next had a tower of beer plus soju plus makgeolli plus two dishes, and they seemed to do just fine. 

I don't have a picture of the skewers. 

I also don't have a picture of the drinks. 

But whilst I do regret taking a too blur picture of the skewers, I don't regret not having a memory of the drinks.

It's good and fine to offer blueberry juice, orange juice and fruit punch from a dispenser. 

It's not so good to have them heavily watered down. 

That glass of watered down blueberry juice was, by far, the most eyebrow-raising part of the entire meal. 

You can say it might be a tad too much to expect dessert included, but to have dispenser drinks taste bland and weak almost as if it were dishwater is, really, completely, not acceptable.

Not even for a budgeted buffet price. 

I wish they could have offered better, stronger, sweeter drinks. 

Coke, Sprite, Fanta Grape, Iced Lemon Tea, standard soft drinks, anything that would complement the satay, which, I will say I liked better than the skewers. 

These were good. 

This evening our order consisted of what I think was likely beef, or mutton. 

Then again it might have been some other meats- chicken, pork?- that I happily ate up, and which now have forgotten. 

The one thing I do remember, however, is that we didn't use much of the dipping sauce. 

Being local we've come to expect the satay peanut sauce to be thick, creamy, full of finely chopped peanuts swimming about inside. 

This one, I'm afraid, reminded us too much of the hotpot kind. 

Glad I was that the hotpot peanut sauce didn't detract from the smoky, slightly burnt taste of the meat. It didn't make a difference.

In fact, if even a little hard, I thought the satays had been done quite well. 

We finished off the meal with a plate of dumplings that my friend had seen on the menu and wanted to try. 

Simple as they might seem, they made a great addition to the meal, I have to say, and gave our dinner a light presence of carbohydrates which had, up to then, been not there. 

It's not that one live live die die needs carbs to make a meal. 

But chewing a nice, thick, dumpling skin wrapped over a ball of soft, tasty meat and chopped green chives the way the Northeasterners do it really will make the dinner feel more solid, more comforting, more warm, more full. 

Bus Ride Sights: Serangoon-Toa Payoh

I thought I had a lot of pictures from this one particular bus ride.

Turns out I don't, and that the few I have are in fact all from just one or two roads, which, fortunately, are very scenic, and so, even though I don't have a lot of pictures, I have a fair number of very pretty ones.

The bus ride this afternoon began from Serangoon Bus Interchange. 

If I'm not wrong I think we were on Bus 105 heading towards Toa Payoh.

It's not often that I take pictures of the bus interchange, but I wanted to grab a shot of this one. 

Especially since it isn't always that I pass through this part of the interchange feeling real, or me, and that there are days where I pass through wondering from what, and where did I just come from? 

It's a very dystopian kind of feeling. 

Is it me, is it not me?

Am I what I am now, or am I what I have been for the last four hours? 

Who is the real me? 

Who is looking back at who?

These are the questions hard to ask, hard to answer, and I don't know best how to describe the feeling, save that, more often than not, I don't recognize myself. 

Of course, the other me is going into this bus interchange, not coming out of it, and truth be told, I keep wondering just for how long. 

This afternoon the bus turned out from the interchange, made a right onto Serangoon Avenue 2, then a left onto Serangoon Avenue 3, going past a four-storeyed housing block that housed a pizza place called Gusta Sourdough Pizza Co. 

Along Serangoon Avenue 3 the bus then went, passing by more housing blocks of flats that, if I'm not wrong, sit opposite Yangzheng Primary School and Zhonghua Secondary School. 

What transfixed me very much about this road were the trees. 

I had not known there were this many trees with such huge spreading branches and dark green leaves this side of Serangoon. 

The sun, filtering through the branches, and the leaves, made the road so pensive, yet so beautiful. 

It continues on, passing by the area (opposite) that's considered as Braddell Heights, then the distinctive gate of Nanyang Junior College before traveling past Lorong Chuan MRT of the Circle Line. 

After this, the bus comes to the end of Serangoon Avenue 3, and makes a left onto Lorong Chuan. 

Now, I'm not familiar with the whole road that is Lorong Chuan. 

I don't know from where it begins, although Google tells me it begins from Serangoon Gardens and ends at Braddell Road somewhere near the CTE Expressway. 

I also don't know which condo is which name.

But the sunset is beautiful. 

But from Serangoon Avenue 3 the bus turns left, and right away, you come to an office building called New Tech Park, then further on, the Australian International School Singapore. 

It's funny, but I never know where the main entrance of the school is.

I think it's here, on Lorong Chuan, because the other side is the CTE and you certainly cannot turn into the campus grounds direct from the expressway. 

Beyond that lies the junction that connects you to either the CTE Expressway heading downtown, or into Toa Payoh housing estate, Braddell Road, then Thomson Road or Lornie Road further down.

My pictures this afternoon end somewhere here. 

I was getting down at Toa Payoh Lorong 6, and I didn't want to get down with Chonkycam in my hand.

Oriental Food @ Bedok

I was a little surprised, I have to admit, when my friend suggested we try out this place at Bedok Interchange. 

I'd known- for a while- his newfound interest in trying out the tastebud-stimulating dishes of Mala and Suan Cai. 

But I had thought his interest lay in some of the more well-known Mainland Chinese restaurants- like those we see in the Chinatown or Tiong Bahru area. 

To my surprise he wanted to try this one, and said it didn't matter where the restaurant was just so long as the food tasted good. 

As it turned out, there were many surprises to be had this one particular afternoon. 

Oriental Food is a Mainland Chinese restaurant located just outside Bedok Mall right next to the KFC. I don't know how long it's been there, but it seems a comfortable enough spot that it's snuggled in, and from the looks of it, seems to have been there a fair good while. 

What's interesting is that I've walked past this place a couple of times but never considered the menu- until this afternoon when we decided to eat there. 

I had thought we'd be having skewers- a regular favorite of my friend and I when we dine at places as these- but today's lunch went on a completely different tangent, and instead of the meat dishes that we usually have, it were the vegetarian plant-based ones we ordered instead. 

The first dish was Mapo Tofu. 

Which was a surprise.

I hadn't known my friend liked Mapo Tofu.

Of course, me being me who had been having a funny tummy and all at that time, had been a tad worried I wouldn't be able to take the spice. 

But I had forgotten that Mapo is not Mala, and so the dish wasn't one bit spicy at all. 

The tofu, all cut so cutely into perfect cubes, was soft and bouncy. There were little bits of minced meat inside the dish.

And the taste of the sauce- Wikipedia tells me it's based on fermented broad bean and chili paste, as well as fermented black beans- but not very spicy despite the little pieces of chopped chili- was just as lovely. 

The redder than red color brightened up my mood tremendously well.

I had forgotten how good this simple but appetizing dish went with rice, so, yes, it was pleasant mushing up spoonfuls of tofu with the rice in my bowl whilst adding on as much sauce as I could without fearing I'd stir up rumbly sensations in my tummy. 

It wasn't just this prosperity-looking dish that brought me dining pleasure.

The other dish that my friend ordered too brought me great joy.

In terms of cuisine, this dish is as simple as a vegetarian, vegan dish one can be. 

But I love pumpkin. 

I love the color.

I love the texture.

I love the taste. 

Doesn't matter how it's prepared- steamed, stewed, fried, but better yet, deep fried with a bit of a batter coated all over. 

The dish reminded me very much of sweet potato fries, lightly salted, slightly sweet, crisp on the outside, soft, comforting on the inside, incredibly fun to eat.

It's the kind of dish that will make you become peckish even though you're not, and it's the kind of dish that will make you reach out for piece after piece with your chopsticks, wondering the entire time if you can have more. 

The Change of Kovan

Ok, so this is going to be a bit of a personal post.

Yet, at the same time, it's not going to be as personal as some think it might be.

It is no secret that I used to live in Hougang. 

And because school five days a week was on the other side of Hougang near the Hougang Avenue 1, Lorong Ah Soo side, there was always a commute, plus a stopover, at the bus interchange between home, and school. 

It wasn't just weekdays that I came to the interchange.

Weekends too we came, at those times when we wanted to head downtown, and the only buses heading down Upper Serangoon Road to town area were all berthed here. 

I know this interchange well. 

One side of the interchange had all the feeder bus services going around Hougang Town. The other side had the buses all heading to other parts of the island, some going towards Tampines, some going to Chinatown, Orchard, Jurong East even. Hanging from the ceiling was this huge clock- which I do not have very happy memories of- and in the middle of the whole interchange was a kiosk where sweets, snacks, buns, and drinks were sold. 

This is a place where not only do I remember where the berth of Bus 111 was, not only do I remember buying sweets and snacks and later SMASH music magazines from the kiosk, I also remember bumping into my grandparents who had come to the nearby shopping center for errands and groceries and were taking the same bus as I were, back home. 

But life changes. 

Things move.

And what used to be a lively hub of the Hougang Bus Interchange along Upper Serangoon Road is now vacant, quiet, and empty. 

When it was that the bus interchange moved lock, stock, barrel down the road to where it is now in present day, I can't recall, but it might have been around 1998, 1999, near the time when the NEL started, and even though both interchanges were always running concurrently, to this day no one really knows why this bus interchange had to move. 

I've not had much of an opportunity, nor reason, to come this side of Hougang, or Kovan, as it is now known, very much in the intervening years. 

But the other day I did. 

And, let's just say, I was very surprised.

I can't say whether it was a surprise of the good kind, or the not-so-good kind, because even though much of the place looked same as how I remembered it, the vibe seemed different.

Was it just me or were it the retail mix of shops that made it so?

Was it just me or had I- after spending so much time elsewhere- become unfamiliar and desensitized to the space that I once used to frequent?

The largest change was of the space where the car park once used to be. 

This was the car park where, if coming from Upper Serangoon Road, we'd cross Tampines Road, and up the slope of the car park directly to the hawker center. 

Few years ago it was still there.

But now it's gone, replaced by construction works for public housing flats, and whilst I could see how this helps alleviate future home owners and maybe makes this part of Kovan a place to live, work, study and play, somehow the presence of those flats makes the place feel different. 

Especially the hawker center, which has become a little less airy and sunny than how I remember it, in particular the side where used to be my favorite chye tow kuay stall (and which is there no more)

It isn't just the hawker center and the car park that has changed.

The shopping center too has evolved so much that I'm not sure what to make of it.

On one hand I know I ought to see it with 2025 eyes.

Yet at the same time, I can't seem to erase memories of the department store that once used to exist there.

I guess I still remember it as a time of Kimisawa and Oriental.

And I still remember how it used to be when Delifrance, Pizza Hut and A&W were on the ground floor, with the peach tarts at Delifrance on display, the waffles and fried chicken wings and root beer floats at A&W, the KFC at the back, and the pizza buffet at Pizza Hut where you could have salad and soup and pizza and lasagna free flow for $7.

There're a good number of cafes and eateries and restaurants at the shopping mall today- not that they're gone- great for families and teens, plus snack booths but a lot more pop up space has been rented out both downstairs and upstairs, and I had a bit of a time trying to figure out what was where. 

Perhaps it might be great for someone who has given oneself the space and time to shop and look around. 

Perhaps too it might be great for someone who is exploring the area and wanting a quick grocery run. 

But I wasn't so much in the mood that day, and so headed out of the area (deciding to miss the McDonalds outlet entirely), passing by what was once a bowling alley, crossed over to the road where opposite once used to be the Wing Tai Garment Factory, and from Hougang Avenue 3, took a bus home. 

Longkang Cats of Kembangan

We've been seeing these cats for over a year, and it's surprising just how in all this time I haven't managed to take a nice, good, cute, characteristic picture. 

I'd love to be able to take a close up of them, these two, but they're the skittish sort full of self confidence, and so either ignore you, or saunter away. 

TO them you don't exist. 

Only they, and their regular feeders do. 

But they're well loved- these two- and a delightful sight they are to any cat lover passerby who is making his or her way under the sheltered walkway along the Kembangan canal. 

What makes these two so adorable is how they've got their own characteristics. 

This one- which I shall call Black Tux- is one heck of the ignorer. 

Okay, that sounds a bit harsh.

Especially since he, or she, is simply doing what a cat does. 

Ignore you.

This is one steady kitty, I tell you.

Because you can stand there for a good 10 mins (with all the passersby behind you, mind) trying out all sorts of sounds and going helloooo, hellooooo, kitty, kitty, kitty whilst meowing away at the top of your voice, and YOU WILL NOT EXIST.

If he or she is perched on the ledge amidst the vines and everything- as it is, most of the time- he or she will not look at you. 

You're not in his world. 

You're not in her world. 

This cat just does not care. 

Neither does he or she come down from the well perched position either. 

He or she simply stays there, paws tucked in, head held high.

There're unexpected moments, however.

Like today, where, because of the rain, someone gave he or she a carton box (supposedly to take shelter in) but cat of a cat that he or she is, curled up comfortably, tucked its tail in, and went to sleep. 

I had thought I'd only see one cat here at the Kembangan longkang canal today. 

But the other one was here too. 

Pouting away.

I don't know if this cat is male or female, but this is the one I call the Longkang Cat, or sometimes, Tux Brown. 

Don't be mistaken by its peaceful post-rain snooze spot here on the wide concrete slab.

It's not always there.

Most of the time it's either sitting snug under the bench near its water bowl, or better yet, perched at the very edge of the pedestrian walkway right next to the sharp drop into the canal, paws tucked in, tail tucked in as well. 

If that's not enough to give me a heck of a heart attack, he or she on occasion makes it worse by stalking its way along the very same edge, twirling around barrier poles expertly but, really, still a single paw step away from the concrete bottom of the canal. 

It never seems to bother this cat though.

He or she does not know fear.

And more often than not I've seen him or her walk for quite a good distance along the edge until it decides to cross the pathway and go onto the grass.

I don't know how the other passersby are never petrified. 

I always am. 

So cute this cat is, some more.

Perhaps I don't know cats as well as I wish I did. 

But they're well loved- these two- and a delightful sight they are to cat lovers whenever they are there.

Me, too.

Toa Payoh Lorong 6

You know, I've never really thought about it, but if there be one thing about Chonkycam that makes my life more interesting, it is that she forces me to see familiar things with new eyes. 

It's like, I can be heading up and down the same old route with the same old scenery week on week on week without feeling anything out of the ordinary but once Chonkycam there, somehow that same old building, that same familiar scene, will appear a bit different. 

No wonder they say that life does have change. 

It's only whether you look hard enough, or look not at all. 

I had thought I knew all that I wanted to know about this neighborhood. 

That, because I'd come here nearly every week without fail from the age of six till the age of fifteen; that, because from the looks of it, nothing about this neighborhood seemed to have changed, there was nothing more I needed to know, nothing more I needed to see. 

But the light that afternoon was good. 

It was a kind of light that, may I say, I had never- not once- on this side of Toa Payoh seen before. 

Perhaps I hadn't hung around here long enough. 

Perhaps I didn't use to be here around this time of 5pm either. 

There's a difference between the fleeting perspective of a visitor and a deep perspective of a dweller. 

Mine- as familiar as I thought I was- had all along been that of a visitor. 

It still is. 

It didn't matter that this block of Lorong 7 still looked more or less the same after thirty years. 

The light shining on her walls and her corridors was different. 

Something about this entire area was different. 

It could be the sheltered walkway in front of the block. 

It could also be this hut-like structure behind this block that I didn't at first notice and not sure if it were ever there before. 

But there seemed to be more grass on the slopes, and more paths in the park than what I used to remember. 

To be honest I don't have much of a memory about the park. 

Not only was it thirty years ago that I last came here, I used to merely walk through the park in passing from the bus stop of Lorong 6 to the blocks of Lorong 7. 

Back then I didn't stop to see. 

I didn't stop to observe either. 

But today I looked at the area a little bit more. 

There were pavilions.

There were seating benches.

There was a sheltered stage for community events.

And if I'm not wrong, from the looks of it, there seemed to be more trees.

I, however, didn't go down the steps to the park-playground area today. 

We had a destination to go, an appointment to meet, a box of cake in our hands. 

So along the circumference of the park towards the petrol station further on Lorong 6 we went.

It's kind of strange, but I hadn't realized this side of Lorong 6 had this many trees.

Not small petite ones, mind, but rain trees, with large tree trunks, heavy branches and spreading canopies.  

They looked like they had been here many years. 

How was it that I had never noticed them before?

It wasn't even limited to this side of Lorong 6. 

Even at near the zebra crossing traffic junction that turned from Lorong 6 into Lorong 1, where you would stand facing the Toa Payoh Seu Teck Sean Tong Chinese Temple, there was a tree.

Walking along this side of Lorong 6, I felt this area to be more scenic than I actually thought it would be.

And I'm pretty sure it had something to do with all them trees. 

Seriously, how is it that until this afternoon I have never known just how much greenery and how much foliage this side of Toa Payoh has? 

The shades these canopies provided were dramatic, astounding. 

Here and there were huge ferns nestled between the crook of tree trunks and the sturdy branches above. 

Then below them, by the concrete pedestrian path, there were rich, leafy shrubs by the roadside looking like they'd burst out of their neatly pruned shapes anytime. 

The abundance of greenery this side of Lorong 6 was unbelievable. 

I would not have imagined seeing a banyan tree (hanging roots and all) by the side of the pedestrian path amidst present-day infrastructure. 

I would also not have imagined the presence of all these walking paths and carefully spaced out young trees planted on the slopes of bright grassy green. 

I mean, in my memory, I had impressions of this place as minimalistic bare. 

But no, how wrong can one be? 

There were flowers peeping out amongst the carefully planted shrubs in the park-playground space. 

And, most interesting of all, so close to the blocks were some of the trees that I could almost imagine residents on higher floors reaching out of their kitchen windows to touch the dew on the leaves.