It's kinda looking like that right now. My nose sniffles, eyes watery and I get a sore throat. I hope this thing doesn't have a long term effect.
I've been busy eating again. My parents were here for the weekend to help me with my flat hunting. Of course I haven't found anything that I like yet. The market is pretty expensive right now. I need to spend about SGD$2,200 a month for a 1000 square foot apartment on the East coast. Ouch!
Anyway, I took them to Goodwood Park hotel for teppanyaki as it's been a while since we last had some. Looking at the menu, I couldn't take my eyes off the Shimafuri beef. It's their equivalent to the Kobe beef and I JUST had to try it. The difference? SGD$88 for a set dinner suddenly became SGD$213! I estimate the beef roughly cost about SGD$30 a bite. Big OUCH! But it was very, very nice. I'm not quite sure how to describe the meat but my dad said it was something like a piece of chocolate melting in your mouth. Absolutely beautiful and the bad thing is I don't think I'll be able to enjoy 'normal' beef the same way again. Unfortunately I forgot to take any pictures as I was in another world and you guys will just have to imagine it. :-) The rest of the dinner was very nice too. We had lobsters, prawns, scallops, oysters, squid, sashimi salmon, softshell crab, fried rice, vegetables, etc. It cost a small fortune but it was good.
Many years ago, my mum tried a dish called "chow-tau-foo" which directly translated means "smelly tofu" and it does it's name proud by being the smelliest thing on earth. The tofu is actually double fermented thus bringing out it's pungent odour. Anyway...we looked up the 'ol MakanSutra book and found one listing for a place in Geylang so off we went in the taxi in search of it. According to the book, the shop was forced to relocate because of the smell of it's tofu. I refused to believe something that people generally love to eat can be so pungent. Well, I believe wrong. When I walked into that shop, it was like, how would I describe it...the smelliest thing on earth! (sorry...writers block here) I think my face turned green while my nostrils tried to adjust. My mum loved it. My dad was hesitant but he tried a piece and start woofing them down as well. I tried it and turned greener for an instant and that was the end of my "chow-tau-foo" experience. I just couldn't stomach the thing. It was like eating something straight out from the toile.....
To be fair, I still had food poisoning and my taste buds were probably off colour. But there was something I did like though - the deepfried big pig intestines. Yummy! I took some pictures but again I have no connectivity until I get my laptop.
Last night I caught up with another old college mate who's in town for a training course. We caught for dinner and went to the Lau Pa Sat hawker centre which translate to Old Market. I had a bowl of noodles to allow my stomach some breathing space to recover from the food poisoning. Kevin and Yogesh ordered "oh chien" (sp?) which is an omelette with small oysters, satay and grilled sting ray (yes, it's the type that killed Steve Irwin) with sambal belacan. Man it was beautiful and I had to have a bite or two. They also ordered a jug of beer to go with the food so there I was eating a stick of satay and drinking beer. It's a weird combination because most of the time satay stalls are run by Malays who are Muslims and they don't drink. :-)
After dinner we proceeded to Boat Quay which is an area full of bistros and pubs to try and catch up with another ex-college mate Sharon. She was busy entertaining some clients so we went on our own looking for the best bang for your buck beer in the area. It's funny how the deeper you walk in, the cheaper the beer gets. It starts at SG$20 a jug up the front and goes down to about SGD$14.90 further in. Then...we stopped at this place where they can fill up a 2 litre beer canister with built in cooling system and a tap for SGD$28. Of course we had to try it (photos to follow once Kevin sends them to me) so there we were, drinking ourselves silly with Chang beer which was nicer than some of the local beers. I wonder if we can buy one of these for the office?
Alright...it's time to go. Till next time!
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