Selfies of Early 2026

This was one of those times where I strove to take as many selfies as possible.

Was it because I felt vain?

No.

Was it because I was vain?

Also no.

But it was one of those times where you take the selfie when you're feeling it, or when you've worn the armor to make yourself feel it. 

It's just as well that I'm seeing these pictures now, because, well, I haven't been feeling it for a while. I shan't go into details but let's just say it isn't every day that I feel like I've got everything anchored, moving in direction, confident, and knowing just well I'm going to go. 

Truth be told, I haven't felt it for a long time. 

But one must keep moving forward. 

Because there is no future, there is nothing, if one does not (at least) attempt to go forward. No one extends a hand to someone who is not attempting their best to go ahead and move forward. No one bothers with someone who has not (at least) made a baby attempt to keep moving on. 

Which is where these pictures come in. 

One does not know the future.

One does not know whether or not one will be able to move forward, stagnate, or (I hope not) be held back. 

But to the very least- even as depressing as it sounds- I know I did not miss a moment, nor did I deliberately let the moment pass me by.

These pictures had been taken on different occasions over the course of a single month. 

The first one, if I'm not wrong, had been taken whilst waiting at the seats outside Orchard Central's DDD for my friend who had crossed over to Centerpoint for a tub of Greek style yogurt. 

Second one, very likely, was at some restaurant, maybe in Capitol Theater where we were having a dinner of mala dumplings. 

The next two I know I took at Capitol Theater, at the Punggol Nasi Lemak place whilst waiting for a friend who had gone to one of the salons for a haircut. 

These two pictures I particularly remember- I had gotten tired of looking mature- and dug out the glittery eyeshadow palette NAREE that i had bought from Thailand maybe two years ago from Eve & Boy and still hadn't yet finished. Glittery peach eyeshadow matures me. Glittery white eyeshadow makes me look younger (I think).

And I had decided that day I wasn't going to be mature. 

i seemed to have overdone it though. 

Then, of course, there's the selfie of me on the bus. Can't remember what bus it was, can't remember where I was going, but the hair was fine, the light was good, and I took the picture.

There're a lot more selfies after this one. 

All from the weekend just before Chinese New Year. 

To be honest I had not expected I would take so many. 

But I was feeling (somewhat) pretty on Valentine's Day Saturday- with sea winds tossing my hair- whilst at an event in a rooftop bar 20 floors up an office building down at Shenton Way. 

And I felt prettier when on the eve of Chinese New Year we were at Suntec City for a K-BBQ meal and the natural light up at the Liho near Golden Village was so good. 

Best of all, the hair was great that day. 

As it was for the day after when we headed to Bugis for a lunch at the recently discovered Bugis outlet of Mainland Chinese place Oriental Food. 

Seeing these pictures now, it dawns on me that it is indeed true that accessories and layering can define a look. 

Whether it be a hoodie jacket that you put on (because it's raining), whether it be hoop earrings you decide to wear because it is Chinese New Year Eve and you don't want to be wearing the same flower stud earrings that you put on your ear day on day, or whether it be your eye makeup that for some reason you decide to bounce back to peach glitter instead of the white glitter that you know jolly well makes you look brighter.

Somehow, I wish I always looked this way. 

But that's life. 

You don't always look your best.

You don't always have the space and the opportunity to always look as pulled together as you should to. 

But we try.

We try very hard. 

Even if it be a layer of BB cream, a small square of bronze shaded shimmer makeup, a comb, and a stick of color-changing lip balm. 

Loving Cheetos!

A quick post here just to introduce my new favorite snack.

Cheetos.

Cheetos Crunchy. 

Honestly, never thought I would fall in love with this cheese-flavored snack as much as I do now, but it has now become such that it be the one snack I will now look out for when I am at the supermarket, and it be the one snack that I will want to buy, more so irresistibly when the price falls below the RRP of $5.35. 

Actually, come to think of it, new also not so new. 

At least three, four months already. 

First time I actually paid special attention to this snack was when I was at the shops in Kembangan looking for something to buy for myself. At that time I was trying to decide between the Lays Salted Egg or the Super Ring or the Ruffles. 

But then I spotted this at $4.70.

So pragmatic me bought it.

And guess what...? 

Fell in love at first bite.

Have not changed my mind since. 

Cheetos Crunchy is dangerously addictive. 

Why, exactly, I don't know. 

They might have the puffs, the Hot Cheetos, even the Jalapeno Cheetos, but to date I seem to favor only this one. 

It might be the cheese, the coloring, the additives, the cheese powder, the firmness of the corn crunch- just something that makes it exactly what it is- junk. 

But then so are potato chips, and to be honest, whilst I do appreciate a good flavor of potato chip now and then, I have since bought myself some Lays and some Ruffles and some other brands of potato chips, but I find myself drifting back to Cheetos Crunchy. 

The Salted Egg Chicken Downstairs

It is so very seldom, I tell you, that I'm not able to find the name of the cafe or diner that I have patronized.

Most of the time I manage to put the name to the place.

But with this place, I don't, and that, despite looking about on Google Maps and on Google itself.

Maybe I should try Grab, but really, there's no need to, not when I know where the place is, I know how to get there and I know roughly where to find it. 

We've been coming to this place a couple of times, and for almost all times the food has been good. 

Now, I'm not a good judge of Mainland Chinese food. 

As in, I don't quite know what's good and what's not. 

But this place- located somewhere between Marshall Road and Ceylon Road- sitting somewhere between the spaces of Cheeky Bee Hoon and Steak & Pho- has thus far served up dishes that are suited for my Singaporean palate at a quantity and quality happy to the purse. 

One of the first few dishes we had from this place was the Mapo Tofu. 

I don't have a picture. but it was one of those dishes that came served as really huge cube shaped pieces of tofu. When I say they were huge, I mean that they were of the size that you could cut with your spoon. Firm also were they in terms of texture, not the soft mushy kind that I've grown accustomed to. 

Did we like it?

Well, yes, and no. 

We liked the spice. 

But I think I'm more used to the mushy type that I can crush into my rice and eat it as a whole spoonful. 

Of course that's just one of the dishes that we have had thus far and it isn't the same as some of the others we've had. 

Like the Salted Egg Chicken which to date remains one of our most memorable dishes and one which we'll definitely order if we've got a craving for something sweet and salty there. 

The main thing that surprised us about this dish was the texture and the way it had been done. 

We had expected it to come served like how zichar places make theirs- huge chicken pieces slathered (drowned) with a thick gravy of salted egg covering the entire plate. 

But no, this plate was dry, no gravy, not one bit at all. 

What's funny is that we had begun eating immediately when the plate arrived at the table, and so it took us a while to realize that this were literally the non-spicy, for-kids version of the ubiquitous spicy La Zi Ji so common in Mainland Chinese cuisine.  

And right away we fell in love. 

So it might be that we haven't ordered it since the last time we had it here but it's not because we don't like the dish anymore. 

We just happened to have found new love for other dishes. 

Like their skewers, which we order about 8-10 every time we come, mostly alternating between lamb and beef but the other day my friend ordered for me a quail egg stick. 

I love quail eggs. 

I also love the way they grill their meat, with thick chonks of meat balanced with a single piece of fat (in the lamb)

Their skewers are ordinary enough for the taste that we prefer, but if there be something unique about this place, it is the vibe. 

This is not the kind of place where I will want to have three or four big dishes and sit for 3 hours. Instead this is the kind of place where I want to have 15 skewer sticks, one or two bottles of Wang Lao Ji drink, and if they have, some sort of dessert to close off the meal. 

Fingers crossed I'll get to have it soon. 

Tomorrow, maybe. 

Maybe I might even take beer. 

Oyster Mee Sua @ NEX

So, I am generally not the kind of person who has cravings for food of this or that. I eat as it is. Sometimes I go for a particular cuisine. Other times I just eat whatever comes to mind. 

But there are certain days, however, that I find myself needing warm, soupy stuff more than any others, especially after caregiving hours, and that's where the choice of meal becomes more ngiao than usual. 

It don't matter if it is a bowl of chicken noodle soup.

It don't matter if it is fried fish noodle soup etc. 

Just so long as it is warm and comforting and calming, that's enough for me.

We had not thought to come to Taiwanese eatery Eat Three Bowls at first. 

In fact it had not been on the plan at all, but then the queue at the Malaysian style eatery next door was too long, I was hungry, and tired, and didn't want to wait, so to Eat Three Bowls we came. 

I'll be candid.

It was an eyeopener. 

You can call me suaku, okay, but up till now I had not known just how popular this eatery was. 

For starters, I had thought this eatery was new. 

But no, they had actually been around for a while, beginning first with a stall at a hawker center opposite Vivocity, and now, with outlets at various parts of the island, including NEX, where this evening we were.

My meal today was the Oyster Shredded Chicken Mee Sua- with no intestines. I'm the kind of person who can take oysters and liver and spleen but I cannot take intestines. 

Never mind how they're cooked- stewed, boiled or fried. 

Doesn't matter. 

I just can't. 

I loved my bowl. 

I loved how the mee sua was soft and slippery and how every mouthful filled with noodle and rich, flavorful broth brought me a pleasant sense of warmth. 

I loved how the huge heap of shredded chicken soaked up the broth- it had hints of vinegar- and didn't taste nor feel dry at all. 

Better yet, there were the oysters, big, fat and juicy.

I shared them oysters with my friend who loves them in the orh luak style but can also eat them any style. 

He had the Braised Pork Rice, by the way, which he said had an appetizing gravy full of flavor with the finely chopped pork served up in a mix of fat and meat. 

Easy to scoop up the meat with the rice too.

But I will say this.

Had I not been needing something warm and soupy and hot and comforting, I might have gone for another dish else. 

There is (surprisingly) quite a lot to be had here at this place. 

Popular dishes here include the Braised Beef Noodles, the Pork Chop Egg Fried Rice and the Shredded Chicken Rice. 

So the last one might seem very very healthy, which it is, but maybe I might go for the first two instead. 

They seem more... fun?

Like this evening, I was actually keen on the Braised Beef Noodles. The broth, a soy-spiced concoction, apparently, seemed stimulating yet comforting and warm at the same time.

And then I did take a look at the Taiwanese Sesame Oil Chicken Soup, and the Huadiao Wine Chicken Soup where the first one had ginger and for the second, I've always wondered how Huadiao wine is like. 

This evening, as much as I hoped to, it would have been lovely had I been able to have the Pork Chop Egg Fried Rice and the Taiwanese Tomato Omelette. Taiwanese, after all, have a reputation for their skill in making fluffy, soft, fragrant, moist fried rice and a reputation for well-marinated, perfectly battered, perfectly fried pork chop fillets, which, had it not been for the need for a calm-me-down dish, I would have wanted to try. 

Perhaps another time. 

You know, I'd like to try their fried items then. 

Especially their night market faves of Fried Tempura, Plum Sweet Potato Fries, Fried Oyster Mushrooms, and Salted Crispy Chicken.

Would be a bit of waste not to. :)

CNY 2026

It is late- very late- this post about the Chinese New Year of 2026, but that be how life is when you have things here and there and you don't get to look at all your pictures until months have passed (and you can breathe a bit better) 

I wish I could say that the CNY of 2026 was incredibly good with lots of fun and lots of food, but that would have to be another celebration, perhaps, hopefully the CNY of 2027, because the CNY of this year leaned more towards the discernment, and the calculator. 

That's not to say that we didn't have fun or didn't enjoy anything. 

It was just, well, leaner, more conservative, less frivolous, less flamboyant. 

There are very few years that I go to Chinatown and walk out empty handed. 

This year, however, yes, it was so. 

This was a year, shall we say, that I had to seriously, seriously consider whether to get them pineapple tarts or not, and, I have to unfortunately say, we didn't. We didn't get them. 

The absence of our favorite pineapple tarts from the neighborhood bakery at Hong Lim has to be one of my greatest sighs for CNY this year. No doubt, we convinced ourselves that we didn't get a jar because we were never able to finish, but still, it marks for one of my most significant regrets this year. 

It wasn't just the pineapple tarts. 

There was heavy absence of our usual snacks and tidbits too. 

You know, there was a season in my life when I'd have two types of pineapple tarts, one of pea cookies or other kinds of cookies, a box of love letters even, and some random sweets. 

I've not bought those random cookies nor those random pineapple tarts since 2023. That was the year I stopped. There was no one to buy them for me, and no one I would buy them for. 

But this year went completely in the opposite direction.

We didn't get any of those things. 

That's not to say we didn't have anything.

Nope, we had a carton of mandarin oranges. 

Got them on the eve of the eve of CNY from the supermarket downstairs.

Thank God they were sweet. 

Thank God too they lasted pretty long (after I dropped them in the chiller) and I managed to freeze two boxes too. 

What's odd is that I don't have a picture of the oranges. 

I don't know why. 

What I do have, however, is this. 

A bowl of preserved fruits that I made for myself. 

See, somewhere along the way I got tired of not having any sweetmeats in the house so I made myself a box, cutting up dried mangoes, and shaking out dried goji berries, both of which we had brought back from Thailand. 

Keeping resources can sometimes be a good thing. 

Especially when you're not wanting to buy new preserved fruits yet don't want to miss out on them at the same time.

By the time this bowl appeared I think CNY had more or less begun.

I can't remember whether or not we had had our CNY Eve meal, but, if I'm not wrong, we had had gone to Koggi and had had the K-BBQ complete with fresh kimchi, charcoal-grilled pork belly, and macaroni salad. 

We had had too a bowl of tangyuan. 

Sesame filling, in ginger soup. 

To be honest, even though I seem to have grumbled a lot, it is a very special feeling looking at all these pictures, looking at all these food. 

I am thankful for the Thin Sliced Pork Belly. 

I am thankful for the chance to have a celebration meal.

And I am thankful to have a companion enjoy it together with me. 

There's nothing more special than to have someone with you who enjoys eating the same things as you. 

Like our favorite foods here at Oriental Food in Bugis where on the first day of CNY we had a plate of sweet sour pork, a plate of Pumpkin with Salted Egg Sauce, and a couple of skewers.

Sometimes it is the little things that you cherish. 

The ability to have a whole plate of your favorite foods. 

The ability to taste and try, new foods, or foods that you like. 

The joy of going to a place and having someone to share these with you. 

I guess it's insolent and ungrateful of me to say that I wish I could have had more this CNY of 2026 when, after all, I had all of these, plus a Murtabak and a special pastry of nian gao wrapped in prata crepe and grilled. 

And I didn't eat them alone. 

I had someone to eat with.

I had someone who enjoyed the same foods I did. 

And I had someone who too understood my wish to have more, because I don't compromise like that. 

Springleaf @ CNY

Anyone who mentions Springleaf would be assumed to begin a post about their menu, their murtabaks, or their pratas. 

I, however, choose to begin this particular post with one very special dish that they had on the menu for Chinese New Year and which we- Chinese that we are- decided we would today have.

What makes this dish very special is that it was a once-off seasonal item on the menu, and which, in all honesty, I had not expected to see at Springleaf at all. 

Because, how does it be that at a renowned (local) prata place we have a dish that includes fried nian gao?

Yes, they might have gotten inspiration from local Chinese snack stations where the 3-in-1 deep fritters (tapioca, sweet potato and nian gao) are sold as an everyday thing, but, hey, they need not have done it here. 

I mean, everyone who comes to Springleaf knows they're all about the pratas and the murtabaks. 

I'm pretty sure they don't come expecting to see a seasonal pastry made out of prata crepe wrapped round a rectangular block of sweet nian gao then either deep fried or grilled. 

Honestly I don't know if the pastry was deep fried or grilled.

I think it's grilled- prepared the same way as they do their pratas- but whichever way it was, the pastry was so, so good. 

If you ask me I think it was the crepe which made the most difference. 

Where other pastry skins might be crispy or crunchy, this one balanced out the crisp with the chew so even though the skin might have been crisp on the upper layer, there was the little bit of chew on the lower layers. 

It made the pastry incredibly lovely to eat with the warmth breaking out from the pastry sliding into your mouth.  

The chew was incredibly good. I liked how the texture gave you that little hint of mush and then disappeared into a sort of fudge that, together with the soft, warm nian gao, wrapped around your tongue with a warm, sticky, slightly chewy sweetness. 

Unlike how other nian gao would have been odd tasting (if you were ever to eat it on its own) or crunchy (because of the skin or the batter), this one gave off such a comforting chew that made you wonder just why you'd never seen anyone else do it this way. 

So delicious was it that three pieces didn't feel like enough, and we contemplated ordering another three. 

But then there was also the Murtabak which we had ordered and which we were sure we wanted to finish. Of course, you might wonder like why we could not just tabao the Murtabak and take it home with us, but the Murtabaks of Springleaf somehow don't taste the best when brought back home.

No, that don't mean they're soggy or not crisp.

Just that it's kinda hard to tabao it back when you've got it on your table this good. 

This, I think, is either a beef, or a mutton Murtabak. 

What I like about this is just how crunchy and crispy the piece is, how the different layers come together, and how the filling inside, although not big pieces of meat, does have enough flavorful bits that make it all come together very well.

You know a Murtabak is good when you are able to eat it on its own without any curry- even though their chicken curry is good, and they also have fish.

That's what I do. 

Eat the Murtabak on its own and just take a little bit of the curry because there's all this spice here and it would be very silly to walk out of the place without having a dip or a taste or both. 

Charms of Roxy II

Couple of months ago (somewhere during Chinese New Year, actually) I went for a short little walk around Roxy I and Roxy II. 

It wasn't on impulse.

The idea of it had been sitting in my head for a while but (with moving in and getting used to everything) hadn't yet gotten down to looking about and looking around. 

What clinched the decision this afternoon, however, wasn't just the fact that I had time. 

It was also the fact that it being the first day of Chinese New Year, there would hardly be anyone at the mall, and the absence of both crowd and store owners was just what I needed. 

Some photographers are skilled at capturing eyes and cheekbones and foreheads or a person's cranial features which (I believe) determine personality. 

I, however, simply prefer to see things in slightly different angles, in a slightly different light.

Locals born and bred are familiar with the heritage of Roxy as a cinema in Katong when they hear her name. 

Does Roxy retain any part of the cinema? 

Technically, no. 

But there is a fairly large (glamorous looking) event space up on one of the upper floors, and there are a couple of drinking places evenly distributed throughout the mall on the first floor below. 

You know, before coming to this area I had hardly known anything about Roxy. It just hadn't been in my zone. 

And so whilst I had heard of the name, I had had no idea what it was like, no idea of its history, or anything much about the place at all. 

What's more, besides the photocopy shop, there hadn't been much of a reason to enter, and so, most of the time, other than a very quick walk-through, I had hardly paid much attention to it at all.

Life changes, however, and this afternoon I found myself standing somewhat curiously at the staircase landing of one of their staircases.

Don't laugh.

Service lift landings and staircase landings- especially those meant for emergency exits- those you don't normally see- are often the ones that don't get aesthetic treatment whenever a mall does a makeover. 

And because they just need to function, one gets to see how they were as far back as when they were first constructed. 

I'm not sure if the aesthetic of Roxy's emergency staircase and regular staircase looks more or less the same, but because Roxy seems to have retained much of its original atmosphere, I'm sensing it to be at least close to how it were all those years ago.

That doesn't mean that the staircase is old. 

It just means that one gest the atmosphere of the 90s just by standing on i, or looking at it. 

I got a bit fascinated by this staircase in the middle of the mall though. 

The decoration behind it gave me a vibe like I had seen it somewhere before. 

Maybe a hotel here in Singapore. 

Maybe a hotel in Bangkok.

Or maybe one in Hong Kong. 

Along the stretch of Roxy II I went now, going past a corridor of shops and stores that seemed to be mostly service-based offerings. Here there were a couple of employment agencies, a couple of enrichment centers, several music schools, an antique shop or two, a clothing shop or two, and then a host of hair salons and nail polish salons, all of which were not open this afternoon. 

The number of hair salons here at Roxy II are a little surprise. 

Then again, they are not. 

I wonder how it is they manage to get their customers. Do they depend on walk-ins, do they depend on their pool of regulars, or do they extend their skillsets beyond the salon? 

I haven't counted just how many hair salons there are here on this one corridor, but there's one on the first floor right near the entrance opposite the Janggut Laksa kopitiam, there's one here on the second floor that looks kind of similar to the one opposite. Then there's one that does a bit of hair oil treatment and leans towards the ayurvedic sort. It's been one that I've been wanting to try.

This afternoon I lingered around on the 2nd floor of this II building, going around on the other corridor until I came to the intersection between Roxy I and II. 

Two shops dominate this middle area. 

One is a optical shop that I feel has been there a fairly long time. What's distinctive about this store would be the posters that they place right outside the store, and the pretty white stools they have for customers whilst they sit and wait.

The other shop is a TCM place that provides consultations, treatments and medication. On regular days I tend to just walk past it- the sign of the place is quite unobtrusive- but from time to time I've looked up from the escalator on the first floor, and noticed it there. 

From here I went on to Roxy I, first passing through another (quiet) corridor of shops that housed a skincare salon on one side, and a hair spa or is it a wellness- massage place on the other side. The skincare salon is one that has been here a long time, and which I distinctly remember for the very reason that it caters (exclusively) to the gentlemen. 

After this, one comes out to Roxy I on the second floor.

At first glance there doesn't seem to have much to see. 

But take a round (amidst a few more nail salons, a wellness center, and an enrichment center at the back) and you'll end up at the area directly opposite on the Stage Left side of the big wall. 

This is what I looked out to. 

And the picture below that is said big wall. 

I wasn't sure what I was going to see here.

I think there was a dance studio on the other side of the escalator.

Or was it a dress shop that I saw?

I, for some reason, now cannot remember. 

What there are, however, are a couple more hair salons up here on the second floor- all of which look like they have been established for a while- and then there is a foot reflexology place of the traditional sort that looks like it will work out the meridian points from the soles of your feet. 

Over here I didn't spend much time walking around and about. 

Instead i just stood by one corner looking around and about. 

Something about this space interested me. 

I don't really know what.

A part of me found myself looking over at the escalator seeing the height as it led from the first floor to the second and then the third, but same time too I was interested in the lifts. 

There aren't many bubble lifts left in Singapore. 

Altogether maybe about 10, or 15, at most? 

In which buildings they are, well, there must be a list somewhere, but here be one of the quiet ones that people don't normally think about, and perhaps, may not know. 

Maybe more attention should be granted to bubble lifts like these.

Sure, they're petite and little, even a little retro, not like other bubble lifts that run up and down twenty floors on the exterior of a Downtown hotel, but this is the Eastern part of the island, and if this be the only bubble lift this side of town on the East Coast Road side, oy, why not? 

I stood a while just looking at the lifts, and the place where it stood, then headed off the exit facing Marine Parade Central. 

A long time ago there used to be an overhead bridge at this very spot. 

It began, if I'm not wrong, from this floor, and stretched all the way across Marine Parade Road. Where exactly the other end of the bridge reached- if my memory serves me well- it would have been the building right across the road where a Maybank branch still stands. 

It's been a long time. 

For what reason they demolished the bridge, well, I don't quite know. 

Maybe they widened the road for the sake of the Marine Parade MRT. 

Marine Parade Road now has trees, plants, and lots more shrubs than it used to. 

In any case we have now an underpass where it enters about 20m from where the bridge used to be on the Roxy side of the road, coming out about 20m from where the bridge used to end.