http://picasaweb.google.c…alBBQRestaurant

It’s been a tiring week for me. I’m not sure why. But been having trouble getting up in the morning although I’m never late for work, I’m just really tired.

I’ve also just started my Level 3 Mandarin course with a new teacher. I’m not sure what to think of her yet, Song Laoshi, because she seems a little bit impatient with us. She’ll ask us a question but then answer it before we have time to think of the answer. There are only 3 students right now in the class although 6 had signed up. Maybe it’ll be better once the other students show up. I think my Mandarin is improving, at least in me being able to decipher what people are talking about but me being able to talk is still pretty limited.

This week I’ve also been training in the main retail pharmacy, known as “R1”. I’ve been learning what the workflow is like and what medications are available at our pharmacy. There are quite a few medications that are not available in the US so there’s a lot for me to learn. The pharmacy assistants and technicians are all very helpful and friendly so the last few days haven’t been as bad as I thought it would be. Tomorrow is my last day there though then I will be back at the Cancer Centre full-time.

Tomorrow we have breakfast provided by Hospira, a pharmaceutical company, because since they sent a pharmacist from the Philippines to train on aseptic preparation, this is her farewell and thank you breafast. We also have staff appreciation luncheon tomorrow afternoon so tomorrow is a lot of free food 😛

Speaking of food, it was raining when I was about to leave work today so Ron kindly grabbed a taxi to pick me up and we went out to dinner. We went to Yess Centre on West Coast Highway to Ju Shin Jung Korean Charcoal BBQ Restaurant. Ron had previously been there for someone’s birthday and said it was pretty good.

I can say I am pleasantly stuffed… if maybe a bit too stuffed. I love the Korean side dishes. The meat was also marinated very well and pretty tender. They kindly BBQ for you and the service is quite fast. We enjoyed a small bottle of Bohae plum wine so I’m feeling quite content right now. It was a good meal (although a bit expensive, around SGD$115 for 2 persons).

There are too many side dishes for me to post, so check out the slideshow below for all the wonderful food and drink(or click here):

Tomorrow, we (Ron, Joyce, Alex, and Kevin-NUS grad student) are going to Bintan, Indonesia for a short weekend trip. I can’t wait. Will keep you updated on how the place is. It’s apparently very popular with expats and it’s amazing that we haven’t gone there yet since it’s so close, only a 45-50 minute ferry ride from Singapore.

I hope to get a bit tan… I think I’m becoming paler by the minute…

So I found out from Joyce that someone actually reads my blogs for food recommendations (Hi Nancy!)… I’m glad to hear that my blog is not only useful to update my friends and family but also a place to look for good eats 😛 Now my blog has more meaning… yay!

This morning I was at work helping out with “stocktake”. At our pharmacy here, they perform inventory every few months. They spend a few weeks preparing for it and then spend a weekend counting all the drugs and supplies in each of the pharmacies and matching it up with the computerized inventory system. It’s a bit tedious but with everyone working together, it’s not so bad. Until there is a discrepancy then you have to figure out what went wrong, like where did those missing drugs go? or why is there excess? I was let out around 2pm and went home to rest but they stayed until almost 5pm to do some detective work.

Since I was at work all day, I really needed to go out somewhere and Joyce had a free day so wanted to go see a movie. Ron, Joyce, and I ended up watching “An Empress and the Warriors”. It was a bit corny but also depressing. I like the song in the movie though.

Afterwards we went in search of dinner and Alex joined us. We ended up shopping a bit and ate at the Food Republic at Wisma Atria. Again another high priced hawker center except inside.

Prawn Noodle:

It’s cool how they cook it in a HUGE wok but also a bit scary. It was SGD$4 for a small portion.

Char Kuay Teow:

Also SGD$4 for small portion. This was really greasy and a bit messy to eat. Once it gets cold, it’s not good.

You can’t beat chicken wings:

Beef noodle with smoked egg:

Green onion pancake:

It was really crispy and oily… but yummy.

Prata with cheese and egg:

Like any other prata.

Orchard really doesn’t have that many good places to eat unless you want to spend a lot of money. All the food courts are getting pretty old for me…

We went to Swensen’s afterwards but the service was not very good tonight, Ron and I didn’t even get our dessert and we left. Joyce and Alex ordered ice cream desserts and we ordered a hot crumble. They served the ice cream right away but the crumble took more than 10 or 15 minutes. By that time, Joyce and Alex were already done and our dessert hadn’t even come out yet so we canceled it but the server kept on insisting it was coming. But we’d lost our “taste” for the dessert and just didn’t want it. He was going to give it to us on the house but we refused. Annoying, even after we canceled it, they still tried to bring it to our table.

To cheer me, we went to Canele at Paragon to buy some macaroons for myself and to share with Siew Woon tomorrow… Yum!

Today was a hot and humid Saturday… I don’t like Singapore when it’s like it. It’s hard to breathe because of the heat and humidity… only the air-con malls can save you…

Okay a bit melodramatic but I really do hate being outside when you know it’s going to rain any moment and you just want it to rain to get it over with so that it will be cool again.

Today we spent the afternoon exploring the malls on Orchard Rd that we’ve never been to, namely Tanglin Mall, Tanglin Shopping Center, and Far East Plaza. There wasn’t that much to see but we did pass by a hotel with a cute statue:

We met up with Joyce for dinner at Yoshoku Kitchen at Serene Center. There’s also a pizza place there called Oishi! which is where I originally wanted to go but the reviews online were pretty bad… but I think we’ll try delivery some day, their pizzas sound very interesting. But I picked Yoshoku Kitchen because they serve green tea chocolate fondue.

We had the salmon salad roll for an appetizer.

If you like sauce, then this isn’t the roll for you. It only has some sort of mayo inside but was pretty light so a good snack.

Ron and I had the garlic beef with potatoes (Joyce doesn’t eat beef) which was okay. The meat didn’t have much flavor but the sauce on the potatoes was pretty good. If you just like beef then I think it’s a good value.

The scallops with cheese cod roe sauce was very yummy but you really gotta like cheese. I think it would taste really good on a baguette.

We also had the seafood pasta which you could probably make at home. Not that it wasn’t good but wasn’t spectacular. The sauce was really creamy.

The cream sauce was very similar on the fish with mango except with less herbs. The fried fish is served on a piece of toasted bread.

We tried the green tea chocolate fondue, it was served with bananas, strawberries, green apples, grapes, chocolate wafers, and marshmallows.

It was a bit too sweet though. They use white chocolate which is a bit overwhelming in flavor over the green tea. To make us all happier, we ordered the dark chocolate fondue was well. It was only SGD$8! Really good value for the money…

We enjoyed our dessert… Joyce and I really enjoyed it… hehehe…

At least I have a nice full tummy so I can sleep well and be ready to go to work tomorrow for stocktake.

Friday Foody tonight was at Makansutra Glutton’s Bay next to the Esplanade. Makansutra is apparently a company that showcases Singapore’s food. They produce a guidebook, TV shows, a website, mobile services, etc. Glutton’s Bay is also their venture where they gathered some hawker stall owners and brought them to the place next to the Esplanade.

It’s only made up of 12 stalls and I have to say it wasn’t that impressive to me. Sort of more expensive than normal hawker center food in a nicer setting.

They did have a few interest things like your own personal BBQ with your choice of meats and you could also have steamboat/hotpot.

I like the BBQ pot they provide though… be cool for home.

This is pork. Fatty with a bit of bone.

They had satay.

Roti John – some sort of meat inside with onion and cheese, with mayo and chili on top. A bit like a Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich.

Oyster pancake – unlike the Taiwanese type, it’s more of a stir fried oyster omlette rather than a pancake.

Carrot green apple juice. Very refreshing but a bit expensive, SGD$2.50

This was part of dessert for the evening, ice kachung. Basically roughly shaved ice with syrups, sweet corn, red beans, palm seeds, and other jellies inside. You have to dig to find the good stuff at the bottom.

We ended up at the Esplanade at one of the cafes for gelato. It was a bit expensive too, SGD$4 per scoop. The one on the left is cherry raspberry and the one on the right is cappuccino.

So overall, it was only okay. There was live music which was nice and it was nice and cool by the water. A bit on the more expensive side but very clean food center. I was happy to see a kitty wandering around underneath the tables.

I’m tired after a long day at work so we decided not to join the others on their evening adventures. I think I need to get a little more sleep this weekend.

Our Cancer Centre Pharmacists are starting these discussions at least once a month to talk about updates in the pharmacy world. Tonight’s discussion was about the IDSA Guidelines for treatment of invasive aspergillosis.

IDSA = Infectious Diseases Society of America

We thought it a good idea to go have a nice dinner and have our discussion. We went to Canele at Paragon for yummy crepes and desserts while Peai Tean showed us some slides and presented the information. We had a lively discussion and also some great dessert.

Raspberry, Hazelnut, and Pistachio Macaroons

Chocolate-something cake

Roasted chicken crepe with fig

Chocolate hazelnut cake with gold leaf

Peai Tean showing us fungal pneumonia on a chest x-ray.

It was a good informational session and discussion and we hope to do it more often. I volunteered to talk about antiemetic use for chemotherapy and methotrexate pharmacokinetics. I am lucky to have learned all this while working at UCSF so I’m glad to be able to share with my new colleagues.