The Food of HA 2021

The country did not go into the circuit breaker mode of lockdown this year. 

Instead she went into what the government called a Heightened Alert, or a HA. 

It wasn't very different from CB last year, except that the stores, the shops and the malls were open, there was more flexibility here and there, and you could have a quick meal at public benches and void decks just so long as you observed social distancing, didn't make a ruckus with masks off, and cleaned up after yourself.

Work from home remained default- just like it had already been for a while- but now with the new rules of HA, most of the country found themselves having afternoon meals and dinners around the table in environment of home. 

We don't do elaborate meals here in the officetel. 

By elaborate I mean we don't bake cakes or muffins or whip up curries. 

But the hotpot is somewhere in the cupboard and we do have a fry up here and there.

Amongst some of the unique meals we made this time included wagyu beef burgers which patties we got from the supermarket, threw them in the pan for a shallow fry, then stuffed them between breads that we had ciabatta one time, brioche another. 

Besides the burgers, there were days when we arranged frozen gyozas in the pan, attempted fluffy five-egg omelets Thai-style or decided to shallow fry chicken pieces that we bought from the deli in the supermarket. 

Brunch on weekends saw us having sausages, fried bread and hash browns. 

And because the resident chef in the officetel is good at at making fried rice, especially green curry fried rice, on certain days, overnight rice and leftover green curry mixed with a beaten egg became our meal. 

Me, I'm better with the pot than with the pan, so yeah, there was shrimp ramyun with cuttlefish balls, fish balls, lettuce and tomatoes happily tossed inside. 

We did takeaways, of course. 

But we were more selective this time. 

I must admit that it might not seem fair to some of our favorite restaurants or to F&B in general, but this round we decided to exclude the Western as much as possible (somehow the meats all tasted cold and unappetizing when they arrived), and we decided that we would be very careful with our order of sushi as well. 

As much as we missed certain items on the menu, it seemed more prudent to wait for re-opening and have them straight at the table instead of bringing it all the way back only to find them less delicious than we anticipated them to be. 

Most of our takeaways this time went to the Thai. I don't know precisely when we ate what we ate, but if I remember right, there was basil minced meat rice, there was green curry with beef, salted egg chicken with rice, fried beef kuay teow, pad thai, and the coconut soup known as tom kha. 

Not to say that we didn't have sushi or Japanese. 

We did- we just chose the (salmon) sushi that could be comfortably eaten cold and we ordered bento sets that included battered tonkatsu, teriyaki beef slices, tamago, gyozas, salads and rice. 

A Marriott Tang Plaza Snooze

The world is still in the midst of a pandemic. 

And even though many industries have adjusted, pivoted and established new protocols (just in case it goes long term), some industries have found themselves facing more of a challenge than others.  

Local hotels, in particular, have, quite unexpectedly, found themselves in a quandary between visitors on quarantine orders and local walk-in visitors like ourselves. 

Nowhere is this more apparent than at the front counters. 

I don't know about other hotels- I haven't been to many since the pandemic began- but I was over at Marriott Tang Plaza a couple of months ago, and may I say that their coordination at the counters left an impression on me. 

There was no discrimination between the overseas visitors and the local ones. Had not the family in front of me asked each other who it was that incurred local telephone charges from the room's phone, I'd not even have known they were from overseas. 

They were checking out. 

I was checking in. 

Marriott's room decor has hardly changed since last Christmas when I was here. The notepad and pen on the desk is no more, the chips, nuts and alcohol offerings in the mini bar are also no more, and the Granny Smith green apples on top of the cabinet below the TV haven't yet made their return. 

Fortunately the bathroom's not changed. 

You still get the dressing table, the furry robe, the furry slippers, the Thann toiletries and the little black wooden box where they place all the toiletries in. 

What differed this time was the view. 

Where most of the time we often overlook either ION or Wheelock, this time we got a view that faced Lucky Plaza, the terrace houses below, the apartment blocks behind them, Mount Elizabeth Hospital, and in the distance, the Marina Bay Sands. 

I didn't quite pay attention to the view in the distance- it was something I'd seen before. 

But I was quite interested in the houses and the apartment blocks below. 

I'd never seen them from this height before. 

It also surprised me to see just how near Far East Plaza was from this angle- literally it felt like it were next door. 

Much of my time was spent within the property this round. 

Other than a single walkabout to the 70s(?) looking block behind the terrace houses whilst heading out for basics, I was too lazy to go anywhere. 

Not to the pool (you had to make a pre-book and I was lazy but i did take a picture the next day because the light was good)

Not even for dinner, because included in the package were dining credits which we used for a very late dinner at the cafe downstairs. On hindsight we should have been kiasu and made reservations by phone or online, but we didn't, and so got pushed back to the hour of 9pm. 

That wouldn't have been so bad had we been able to start eating immediately, but order taking and kitchen prep took 45 minutes thereabouts so in reality it was almost 10pm when we actually began our meal. 

The mushroom soup was good, but let's just say that instead of buttermilk chicken sandwich I shall stick to stuff like pastas next time. 

It was a pleasant (if hungry) time we had that evening. 

But that experience taught us well. 

Next morning we were an hour earlier in the queue than we usually would have been and so the wait was shorter, we were shown a table faster, and, having known what we wanted, ordered everything in one go. 

Breakfast at Marriott Tang Plaza used to be a bit of a show kitchen with an egg station and a Chinese noodles/laksa side, and where their offerings were arranged in these huge colorful heavy pots that guests could help themselves. 

That arrangement, of course, has altered and now the servers bring everything you've ordered right to your table. 

It isn't a bad thing, except that if you did it the way we did, you end up getting a lot of plates on your table and you have to figure out which one to eat first and which to keep for afterward. 

I think I had the scrambled eggs, the waffles (with blueberry jam!), the smoked salmon and the Danish pastries first. The sausage, the bacon, the potatoes, the cereal, and the laksa came after. 

We also ordered a second serving of bacon, which we regretted afterward, because the portion was huge and we couldn't tapao....

I'll have to be candid here: I can't quite recall whether I ordered the croissants (those used to be really huge and  good) but I hope I'll remember to order them next time. 

I've missed them. 

Same thing with the ice cream. 

Because what's the fun of a staycay if you can't have ice cream for a morning meal? 

Merch for Everyone

McDonalds is no stranger to Collaborations with the Entertainment world. 

This is something that every child who has ever come into contact with the fast food giant will know. 

Whether it is Disney or Dreamworks or any other children's program, a good number of us would have come across a few princess figurines or a few creature figurines in our time. 

Things are a little different in terms of collaborative efforts with the animation studios these days however (junk food argument and all), and I don't think I've seen a cartoon character figurine in a McDonalds Happy Meal box for a while. 

But McDonalds hasn't sworn off Merchandising, nor killed off the department in corporate headquarters. 

Because Summer 2021 saw the launch of The BTS Meal. 

I don't quite know the scope of the launch.

But (IMO) I do know what this seemingly ordinary, nondescript meal may mean. 

For most of us, this is just a commonplace, regular McDonalds meal- nothing out of the ordinary, nothing fanciful. 

To a certain extent, seen from a certain perspective, that can be true. 

Especially when you consider that McDonalds didn't create a brand new (Korean-themed) food item for the meal (they could have done something related to bulgogi or gochujang!) nor did they include stuff like figurines or pens or even key chains for the customers. 

But for a fan of BTS, that meal- 9 pieces of Chicken McNuggets in a specially printed box, along with fries and Coke- is a symbol of solidarity with his or her fellow members of the ARMY. 

The world of merchandise is a complicated one. 

The world of music merchandise can be an even more complicated one. 

And not everything is available at the same time at the same price. 

What is available for the launch of this album today will be limited edition tomorrow. 

What is released at this price today will cost twenty times more tomorrow. 

It is a world where one item is not enough.

It is a world where you see what the other fans have and which you hope to have for yourself. 

To be a fan of a music group (or any entertainment franchise) is to enter a never-ending cycle where a poster on your wall or in your drawer is not enough because there're still the Tshirts, the lightsticks, the lanyards, the pendants, the stickers, the hoodies, the sweaters, the notebooks, the drawstring bags, the laptop cases, the phone cases, the backpacks, the mugs, the pens and a thousand other items of merchandise from debut to present day offered according to all the albums and singles that they have ever sung. 

It is almost impossible for everyone in the ARMY to be able to collect everything at once because something will always be missing somewhere. 

Moreover everyone has different lives and not everyone can have access to their albums/singles or a piece of accompanying BTS merchandise wherever and whenever they like. 

What's more, there are the parents. 

Every fan who has ever asked a (highly practical) parent for moolah to go to a concert (let's talk about the chores to be done and/or the school-grade bargaining), buy a hoodie, a mug or even a poster of their favorite musician/group/boyband knows the pain. 

Enter McDonalds. 

And its 9 piece Chicken McNuggets meal in a specially printed box, a specially printed cup and unique sauce.

Parents may be able to argue down their child's request for the new album or the concert or (another) poster, but most will find it hard to deny their child the triple satisfaction of collecting the BTS McDonalds cup, the BTS Mcdonalds box, joining his/her fellow ARMY fans in owning the purple-colored, logo-monogrammed utensils, and having a meal all at the same time (Everyone in the family can share out the fries) 

For the fans themselves, it is a singular opportunity to do the same thing like what other members in the ARMY is doing (depending on where the meal was launched), share their experience of buying the meal, eating the meal, saving the utensils, and showing each other what they've done with the (clean) (not so clean) merchandise from the meal. 

We've seen the (specially released) publicity about the sauces going for unbelievably high prices. 

But there has also been publicity about the care taken by the ARMY to turn the cardboard from the carefully washed, carefully cut out box and cup into decor for keychains, phone cases, and water tumblers. Those who haven't upcycled the designs have pasted them into notebooks and scrapbooks for memories. 

I belong to the latter. 

Because I'm lazy to go get the tumbler and wrap the paper around it.

But I do appreciate the music of BTS. 

And I do appreciate the fact that merchandise can be for everyone. 

Forests of Lower Peirce

A couple of months ago I made my first visit (after many years) to MacRitchie Reservoir that sits on the south side of the Central Catchment Area. 

A couple of weeks later I made my first visit (also after many years) to another reservoir north of MacRitchie that in fact comprises of two reservoirs sitting side by side in the middle of the same catchment area. 

Upper Peirce and Lower Peirce lie on a west-east direction where north of Lower Peirce is Thomson Nature Park, south is Windsor Nature Park, and where parts of Singapore Island Country Club, SICC Millennium Golf Course and Bukit Kajang Service Reservoir are nestled in between.

 

I had thought of going to Upper Peirce. 

It seemed more interesting. 

But a quick check on the NParks website showed me that I'd have to go on this very long, very winding road just to get to the Upper Peirce Viewpoint, so I decided to reserve it for cycling season and settled on Lower Peirce instead. 

I went to the reservoir with no expectations.

Meaning that I didn't know what the place was like, I didn't know where the route would take me, and I didn't know what I would see. 

It's always safer for a first timer to take the easiest route, so that's what I did, entering the Reserve from the Casuarina Entrance. 

A short climb up a staircase and I came out onto a boardwalk which I soon realized meandered through some of the most amazing natural foliage that on this island I had ever seen.

You know how there are times when you stumble upon a place that gives you different vibes from what you have seen before, or have been used to? 

That's what the forest of Lower Peirce was like. 

See, I've been to several parks and nature reserves on our island- Southern Ridges and Imbiah included- but may I say that the atmosphere of the forests here were somewhat a little different from what I'd seen elsewhere? 

It's very hard for me to describe how the place was like. 

I don't have the words for it. 

But shall we just say that the plants, the trees, and the little stream winding its way through the foliage made me feel like this forested world had been around, and had been left untouched for a very, very long time?

It was in the air. 

It was in the atmosphere. 

And it would have felt more magical had I not had to hear excited chatter from the visitors that walked past. 

Apologies, but some of them were really noisy. 

It wasn't a very long walk.- a total of 45 minutes, I estimate- and which would have been shorter had I not kept stopping to take pictures.

Some parts along the boardwalk looked out to the reservoir. 

And eventually I came out to the reservoir itself. 

Here the atmosphere changed. 

Maybe it were the gentle rippling waters of the reservoir. 

Maybe it were the trees (in strategic positions) that enabled visitors to place a mat beneath their canopies, lie down, and throw their gaze at the sky. 

I don't' really know. 

It just was more crowded, more lively. 

There were the joggers, the walkers and the cyclists. 

There were the families with young children strolling about. 

Then there were the middle aged and the elderly couples out on their evening strolls. 

I saw kids on rented bicycles daring each other to attract the attention of a macaque who had made its way up a tree. 

And I saw dogs big and small on leash taking walks with their family. 

It was a very peaceful sight. 

I don't think I'll be going back there for a while but maybe one day- just for a lark- I'll enter Lower Peirce from this entrance where the carpark is, or I might just make my way along Upper Thomson Road and head towards Upper Peirce Reservoir instead.

Supper Chillin'

We've made it an Event- The Parent and I- that from time to time we will go chill at various (late night) places around our 'hood. 

I don't know exactly how many coffee shops it is that we've been to. 

There's one that we walk twenty-five minutes to for sam lou hor fun and sweet sour pork rice because they're two of my favorites and this particular zichar stall does them well.

There's one on the other side of the 'hood that we have to walk fifteen minutes to because they serve up huge bowls of lor mee in very thick gravy.

We've been to a coffee shop near the park that's very popular for its carrot cake, fried hokkien mee and fried kuay teow. 

And we have been to the Indian-Muslim shops because murtabak, nasi pattaya, kusy teow goreng and prata were the order of the day.

Amongst some of our favorites include the mee pok from this coffee shop downstairs our house because their portions are huge with great bits of minced pork, lots of little mushrooms and a wonderful huge piece of lettuce in each bowl.

Our meals aren't always 'support local', by the way. :) 

We've gone to several Mala Xiang Guo places a couple of times because we get to throw all our favorite ingredients into a large bowl and have it all prepped together with crunchy peanuts for good measure. 

We haven't tried others very much yet, but perhaps one day we might attempt the Thai. 

There's a new Thai place opened not too far from the Mala Xiang Guo which seems to have good pad Thai and good green curry. 

McDonalds is another place that we (on occasion) go for. 

It's sometimes hard to imagine that The Parent would take a fancy to burgers and fries but nothing beats the fun of sharing out burgers, having a piece of fried chicken, picking on fries from the box, guzzling down a huge cup of Coke and dipping spoons into a cup of chocolate fudge sundae together. 

We've shared moments, even during challenging seasons- all of which are very, very special to me. 

May it be that there will be more. 

May it be that we'll have them for a very long time. 

And may it be that we'll be blessed the way we wish these precious moments to be.