Monthly Archives: September 2007

MacRitchie Reservoir

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Well I was wrong about today being an easy day…

We left our apt around 9am with Ron’s classmate Nitin and his wife Nimisha. We headed to MacRitchie Reservoir where they have hiking/walking/running trails. We arrived around 9:30am and began walking. The reservoir itself is for rainwater collection and around it is lush forest. There is a wooden bridge-like trail that goes around the water’s edge and there are some inner trails that go through the forest. We all started walking together but then maybe 1km in, Nitin and Ron decided to jog so left us girls to walk.

On the following map, we started at the bottom right side with that little red dot with an arrow saying “You Are Here”. We walked along the trail against the water and up the left hand side. Nimisha and I turned back at the Jelutong Tower, sort of near where the yellow trail goes at a right angle. The guys ended up going all the way around: jogging and walking (as they called it: the “girly way”).

The water of the reservoir is very green. Probably lots of moss and algae.

There are lots of visible fish in the shallow water and there were also lots of turtles sticking their heads out of the water. They were so cute! I had a pet turtle when I was a kid but sadly it got eaten by a neighbor’s cat when we went on vacation.

Apparently there are monkeys in the forest although I did not see any. Ron said that he saw two monkeys since they went a bit deeper into the forest.

I did see this big lizard though, I heard it rustling in the leaves. It was probably looking for water or food as it was slithering its tongue. It was probably about 1-2 feet long.

Nimisha and I made it about 5km in to Jelutong tower where we climbed to the top of the spiral staircase, maybe up 6 or 7 rounds. It was wonderfully breezy up top and you could see how lush the forest really was. It seemed quite overgrown though as you couldn’t really see the trails as you looked down.


Yay! We made it!

It was already 11am by the time we made it to the tower so we decided to walk back the way we came. It was faster on the way back and we ended up at the parking lot around 12:30pm. The guys were already waiting for us and were ready to go out to eat!

We ended up in Little India at a restaurant called Anjappar specializing in Chettinaad cuisine, South Indian cuisine and apparently spicy and aromatic.

We had the following dishes:


Cauliflower and Potatoes


Fish Manchurian with gravy


Mixed veggie curry


Chicken

We had lunch with all sorts of bread (ie, naan and other styles) and overall, it was tasty although not as spicy as we expected. The fish was a bit tangy and a bit dry inside without using sauce. The chicken had a bite to it so was very good. The service left something to be desired though. The mango juice was served warm with a bit of ice on top so it was sent back but then didn’t reappear until we asked the waiter. They forgot one of our masala teas. A second helping of naan took more than 20 minutes to make. Overall, just strange considering the place seems it would be high class because it was high tech. They use wireless PDAs to write down orders and the bathroom doors are these special sliding doors.

But after that 10km walk, it was good to eat something filling. The after lunch treat were these little sweetened saffron seads. They sit in a bowl at the entrance so when you leave, you take a little scoop of it into your palm and eat them. They’re apparently good for digestion. It sort of tastes like sweet perfume to me. It’s not bad, just different.

Nimisha dropped us off back and home and we were ready for nap. It was only 2:30pm or so but we’d already had a big day. We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening just relaxing as we’re already starting to feel some soreness in our muscles.

I wonder what tomorrow will bring…

The last few days

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For those who diligently read our blog, sorry I’m behind again… not much has been going on with me in the last few days.

Thursday I stayed home again because of a poor night’s sleep and coughing some more. Ron went to a conference all day and also a Japanese dinner planned at INSEAD. They didn’t have extra tickets so I missed out on dinner so instead made some pot stickers and baby bok choy for dinner. I didn’t clean the bok choy as well as I thought so I ended up biting into sand 😛 yuck!

Friday there was still no aqua-gym in the morning due to painting so I just went for a short dip in the pool with a few of the other INSEAD partners. Afterwards I headed over to INSEAD to fax over my application to the Singapore Pharmacy Board and to have lunch with Ron. I then had to head to the bank to pay our rent. It’s kind of cool here, you can deposit cash into an ATM for another person’s bank account as long as you have the their account number. It’s pretty convenient here too because many of the banks are very close to each other. We have an account with POSB (same as DBS) and within 5 minutes of the DBS branch, there is an HSBC, Citibank, UOB, OCBC, and Standard Charter banks. Plus there are ATMs everywhere.

I also ended up at a store called “Song & Song”. Seriously everything in the store is either S$3, 5, 7, or 10. It was weird but also made me happy to see things from Old Navy! I bought Ron some nice shirts for only S$5 each (and of course got myself a little something as well… hehe). I headed home for a little bit of rest as there was an Australian BBQ planned for the evening, sponsored by Bain & Company. This week was actually Korea-Japan-Aussie week.

The BBQ was held at the complex up the street from us called Dover Parkview. They had hamburgers (well seasoned), lamb sausages, veggie kabobs, and enormous salads. It’s so nice to eat fresh raw veggies, I really miss my homemade salads that I used to bring for lunch at work. We also got to try some Australian Beer called Little Creatures. Try the Pale Ale or the Bright Ale, they’re really light but have a great flavors, the Pale is buttery and the Bright is a bit fruity. The BBQ ended at 11pm because the apartment security showed up so we called it a night.

Today we stayed in for most the day but I wanted to go check out some fairs going on around town. Ron decided to stay home so I went out by myself. My first stop was the Singapore River Market at the Arts House. I may have mentioned the Arts House in a previous post of the tour I went on around Singapore. It’s located near where Sir Raffles first landed in Singapore. The market is sort of like a fair with local vendors. It wasn’t quite as I expected since there weren’t that many vendors. They had an outdoor and indoor venue so it wasn’t small either. The Art House itself is a very nice building, it reminds me of the South with the large white columns and beautiful staircases inside. There are artifacts inside and a little bit of history about Singapore.

There were only two vendors that caught my eye. One is a reseller for a company based in Thailand called Human Touch. They make unique T-shirts, mugs/glasses, plates, and pillow cases. Their sayings make you think.

The second vendor is called Artiris. If you check out their website, they make clothing, the especially unique piece is the “Vers-tyle” which can be a top or bottom (skirt) depending on how you put it on. At the booth the artist was also hand painting the floral patterns. Looks like you can custom design your outfit as well. They apparently have a brick and mortar store somewhere near Orchard Rd so I’ll have to go check it out sometime.

Here’s some views of the river:


A river boat which you can take


The river is flanked by restaurants and office buildings

Next stop was to Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf for a Mocha Ice Blend. I never knew it was a California based company until I was looking at their booklet today 😛 I took a break in the coffee shop as I was going to another fair called This & That Bazaar which is held at Clarke Quay, about a 10 minute walk. This fair is an evening fair, running from 6pm-12am on the last Friday and Saturday of each month.

There are underpasses connecting the “Quays” so you never have to cross through traffic. The passes are strictly for pedestrians and the occasional cats, I ran into these kitties on my walk (and no I didn’t pet them because I don’t know where they’ve been but I miss my kitties).

At the bazaar they had a lot of cute things: clothing, jewelry, shoes, bags, Hello Kitty… so yes I purchased my first Hello Kitty thing in Singapore. It’s apparently only available in Japan, part of a collection. It’s known as Lolita/Gothic Kitty:

I thought it was unique so had to buy at least one. The vendor was going to give me a discount if I bought the whole set and I almost went for it BUT, it was missing the “special” collector one. The set is 8 but there is a 9th one that is rare. So I restrained myself (can you imagine how hard it was for me?!?) but I may hear from them later as I gave them my email 😛

I also ended up buying 2 dresses, perfect for the weather here in SG, they’re apparently imports from Japan. They have an online store called Closet Craves. If you look at their dress section, I got the Flora Tube Dress and the Halter Dress. They ended up giving me a discount since I bought 2 dresses. Let me know what you think 😛

After I finished shopping there, I crossed the bridge to the other side as they were also have a Mid Autumn Lantern Festival. They had more cool lanterns all lit up with some live Chinese music at the steps of the mall.


I ended up shopping at the mall there called Central. I visited this store called Girl’s Talk and I walked in there for hair accessories but they are also a retailer of this Japanese company called The Kiss. Apparently if you slide the ring, it reveals a diamond and a message. Neat.

I checked out the rest of the 4 story complex and bought another pair of work shoes from Charles & Keith, only S$19.90. There are a lot of cute clothing stores so I’ll probably be back. They also have a Japanese snack store, yum! After all that walking around, I was glad to get home, had dinner, and watched Shrek 3.

Tomorrow I think will be a more relaxing day as we’re planning on going out for a walk in the park with some friends.

Opening Day at Palate Sensations and Korean Food

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Today we arranged to visit a cooking school called Palate Sensations. From 11am to 4pm they were having a sort of an open house with tastings and cooking demos to introduce the school.

A group of the us took a taxi to the school since we had no idea how to walk there although it was actually very close, less than a 5 minute taxi ride. The school is located on the third floor of an older colonial style building. The owner Lynette greeted us upon our arrival and offered us coffee, tea, and snacks.

The first event was to be chocolate tasting with chocolate from an Italian company Amedei. For English, click here. Unfortunately the person who was supposed to do the demo was sick but luckily Lynette had some samples stowed away in the refrigerator so we were still able to taste.


Lynette (the owner), Elina, Ariana, and Ryda

We tried three types:
1. Toscano Brown (a milk chocolate)
2. Toscano Black 70% (a dark chocolate)
3. Chuao (a speciality dark chocolate)

My favorite was #2 It very slowly melts in your mouth. I think it would be great with a cup of espresso or with wine.

Next they had a demo on Indonesian cooking by chef Yuli with a dish called “Risolles Ayam”. She described it as a spring roll or very similar to a croquette. She demonstrated on how to make your own wrappers and the filling. It all seemed very simple and it was also very tasty.


Yuli, the Indonesian chef for today

The ingredients for the wrapper are as follows (very similar to a crepe):
150gm sifted self-rising flour
150ml milk (added in 2 parts)
1 beaten egg
100ml water
~15ml water if batter too thick
30gm melted margarine
Pinch of salt

You whisk together the flour, ~100ml milk, and eggs first. Then add the water and remaining milk. Lastly, add the margarine and pinch of salt and your batter is ready! If it’s too thick, add a little bit of water.
Make sure there are no lumps so whisk well. Cook on medium heat and make them thin but not so thin that it may tear. I’m sure this batter will be useful for all sort of things, like dessert crepes. Yum Yum.

The filling was a bit more complicated:
35-40gm margarine
3 garlic cloves and 5 shallots ground up in mortar and pestle
1 boiled chicken breast, shredded
1 raw carrot, diced
Parsley, finely chopped and excess water squeezed out
(+ or – sweet peas, bean sprouts)
Pinch of salt
Pinch of nutmeg
Pinch of pepper
Pinch of sugar
50gm self-rising flour, to be incoporated slowly
100ml chicken stock (from boiling above chicken breast, no salt)
100ml milk

Add margarine plus garlic and shallots into the pan to brown first. Then add all ingredients up to the self-rising flour. The seasonings are too taste, so 1 to 3 pinches depending on how you like it. Incoporate the flour in 3 or 4 portions so that it cooks and doesn’t get lumpy. Add the chicken stock and milk and cook until it comes togther.

Prepare 2 beaten eggs and also a mixture of flour + water to use as “glue”. Also, some bread crumbs are needed to coat the spring roll.

Start to make a spring roll by putting a small amount of filling at one end, fold a bit of the wrapper over it, fold in the sides then roll. Use the flour/water glue to seal the roll closed. Then dip the whole thing in the eggs then roll in the bread crumbs to coat. You can pan fry on medium heat, deep fry, or oven bake (with some cheese until golden brown, yum!).


The insides of the spring roll

Not too bad eh? You can also prepare these in advance and freeze them up to 1 week. No need to defrost them after freezing, just cook as you normally would since all inside ingredients are already cooked.

Next on the agenda was wine tasting provided by Sensus Wine Studio. The company imports Spanish wines into Singapore. We tried three types:

1. VilaDelloPs Red
2. Dona Rosa (white)
3. Pivilegio (red)

I wasn’t much of a fan of either red but the white wine would have gone really well with some fresh fish. The wines are affordable though, ranging from S$30-50 (I miss my Napa Valley inexpensive wines but this price is considered affordable here in Singapore).

Next we had a brief ice cream machine demo. We would get to try the ice cream in about 25 minutes. It was vanilla and delicious!

Now onto something spicy, the famous Singapore Chili Crab. There is also famous Black or White Pepper Chili Crab. But I love the chili crab for it’s sauce, it’s great with bread. You can apparently buy the sauce premade so that’s probably the way to do it and if you don’t want to deal with shells, just buy canned crab meat and add some potato wedges. Oh so delicious!


The steaming hot chili crab!


The delicious end product

We still had more cooking to do today so we headed back to INSEAD for a Korean cooking class. Those who signed up were able to make kimbap (Korean sushi) and also try their hands at making kimchi. I was only there as an observer but still got to eat the samples.


The ingredients for the sushi roll


The completed product with some fresh kimchi


Ron and Hugo being silly (and hungry)!

Then there was the official Korean dinner being served at 7pm. It was “make your own bi bim bap”. They had cucumbers, mushrooms, carrots, zucchini, spinach, egg, meat, and the special sauce. Oh my tummy was happy 🙂 They also served us some kimchi, pancakes, and bul go gi. Along with soju cocktails to round out the evening. A very good dinner overall.


This made my tummy happy

Every Weds is “bar of the week” and since we’d never been and it was ladies free night, we decided to go. It’s was a place called Butter Factory in Roberston Quay. Inside totally reminds me of Japan because of all the crazy anime characters all over the wall and the silliness of it all. They had Hello Kitty curtains and this huge smiley face as you entered the door. We didn’t stay too long since we’d both had a long day of cooking and eating.


Entrance to the Butter Factory


Hello Kitty!


Crazy happy 😛

Mid-Autumn Festival aka Mooncake Festival

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Autumn_Festival

I went for the first time to the INSEAD Partners lunch today at the INSEAD cafeteria. It’s supposed to be each Tuesday around 12:30-1pm where all the partners have lunch together and catch up. I’d missed the first few weeks because of other things (like being sick :() but didn’t have any plans today so decided to join. It was fun seeing everyone again and just chatting.

It is also National Food Week at INSEAD so there is Korean, Japanese, and Australian food this week. Apparently they coordinate with the student council at Fontainbleau to arrange it so the same theme of foods are served each day. There are also company sponsors for each event.

This morning they had Korean breakfast and Korean snacks in the afternoon. I went to try the Korean shaved ice and rice cakes.

The shaved ice also had vanilla ice cream, red beans, mini rice cakes, and some bean powder.

The rice cakes were filled with sweetened sesame seeds and in four different flavors: original, honey, yam, and “grass”.

There were plain rice cakes covered in bean powder. They’re not sweetened so I think it’s a flavor to be acquired.

They also had sweetened carmelized walnuts. They were tasty but they stick to your teeth!

It was a nice afternoon treat. It was also good for the students to let out some frustration after or before today’s quiz. They had this huge block of wood and a large piece of rice cake to pound. It’s super sticky and that hammer is pretty heavy.

For dinner we planned to meet up to have a mid-autumn festival dinner at a place in Holland Village called Crystal Jade. We had a traditional Chinese banquet style dinner. Oh, a little about the mid-autumn festival, traditionally it’s when the moon is at its fullest to celebrate the abundance of the summer’s harvest. We usually eat mooncakes at this time and also sometimes light lanterns. But we’re usually with family and friends to celebrate.

We had a 9 course meal, I missed taking a picture of the seafood rice 😛 The food was similar to what we have in the US. Only the shark fin soup wasn’t quite as good, it had a funny taste, but otherwise it was really nice to have steamed fish and the peking duck was a nice treat.

You need flash in order to view the following slideshow.

We didn’t eat any mooncake today though… maybe they’ll be on sale tomorrow 😛

MBTI Personality Type and Afternoon Snacks

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This morning there was no Aqua-gym because they are still painting the area around the pool. Hopefully the painting will be done soon, it’s been about a week already. I’ve been trying to swim laps but I’m either really out of shape or it’s because of the cold I had that makes it difficult for me to breathe.

In the afternoon, we had this seminar planned for the partners about the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) personality inventory. It’s not really a personality test but helps to identify the your personality type. I remember taking the test sometime in high school when one our teachers thought it would be a good idea so that we could have some sort of indication of what would be a good profession for our personality. The results are in four parts:

E (Extraversion) or I (Introversion)
S (Sensing) or N (iNtuition)
T (Thinking) or F (Feeling)
J (Judging) or P (Perceiving)

Interestingly, my indicator has changed from the time I took it in high school. So it is possible to change or more like “adapt” to your chosen career.

The speaker introduced us to this book called “Do What You Are” for people who are at some sort of crossroads and need help figuring out their next career. I’ll have to take a closer look into it someday but when I glanced through it briefly, “pharmacist” was listed in my personality type.

I think we all learned a little bit about ourselves although the speaker did not seem to cater her talk to non-business professionals. She focused mainly on business or financial careers like being investment bankers, CEOs, etc and not quite on what the partners are interested in. But overall, it was an interesting seminar. I’m sure you could find an online version of the MBTI to take to find out your personality type.

Afterwards some of us headed over to the Dover hawker center for a snack, some of us tried a banana prata for the first time. The bananas (those yellow circular pieces) were very sweet and although we thought it strange that it came with curry, but it actually made it taste really good with the curry. They have other sweet flavors too like strawberry and chocolate. They’re usually filled with salty or starchy things like potatoes, onion, cheese, etc. They were only S$1.80 each, pretty good deal for an afternoon snack.

I ended up back at INSEAD afterwards in the library to do some drug research. There are quite a few drugs they have here that I’ve never heard of which aren’t approved in the US. I know I’m going to have a huge spreadsheet with lots of new drugs.