Full Of Fun

Ahh yes blogging streak is definitely still on! 

Time for another recap of this past weekend!

Ok this wasn't exactly the weekend, but I met up with Talia last Thursday. I think she looks like a doctor or a medical student in this photo! I'm sure it's the white blazer...

It was raining really hard that night so we just walked around inside ION before heading to Coffee Club at Wheelock for dinner. 

I ordered wasabi shrimp salad. First and last time man! You can even see from this photo how unappetising it looked. 

Coffee Club just updated their menu so some food items aren't served anymore, like the smoked salmon and beef ciabatta bites. Other favourites like the chicken baked rice remain.

We shared a basket of potato wedges. Mmm!

On Friday night, a small group of us met at our regular spot.

We knew it was going to be a fast skate that night since there were only four of us.

In about 40 minutes, we made it to Marina Barrage. There were actually quite a number of people there with lanterns and even candles. Not sure if the latter is actually allowed...

Paused for a short break.

Got a beautiful view of the Marina Bay area from crossing the bridge to the east.

We ended our skate at Rochor Beancurd which was pretty crowded for a Friday night!

I packed a few home for the fam and realised halfway.... that I was sending tofu at 12am!

HAHAHA!

See video below (just till 1:27)  if you've never watched Initial D and don't know what that means:

Takumi Fujiwara is the son of a legendary mountain drift racer, and the reason why he's so good is because he's been delivering tofu for his father every single morning. Rain or shine, through all four seasons, Takumi has to deliver tofu down the same mountain pass without damaging the tofu in the back of his AE86. To help him keep the car stable, Takumi's father puts an uncovered cup of water in the cup holder. Essentially, Takumi has to drive in such a way that water doesn't ever spill out. This ensures that the easily-bruised tofu in the back stays intact.

Since Takumi drives on the same route every single morning, he unconsciously started to drive faster and faster just to get the delivery done quicker. Needless to say, his skills on the mountain pass were developed far beyond any ordinary racer of his day.

The reason why I'm spelling out this entire story is just to illustrate one point: to be an expert in something, you just have to practice daily. Talent may bring you further, but it is the boring, routine, mundane practice that helps you beat all opponents in your skill.

I know that, because I've been skating almost daily, and as a result I've improved very quickly. Last October, I wasn't able to tackle urban terrain (stairs, curbs, rough roads) on my own. Fast forward to now, I have no fear skating anywhere in Singapore, nor do I have any fear skating in the rain.

This same principle is inherent in the docu-biography Jiro Dreams Of Sushi.

Jiro is an expert in sushi, quite simply because he makes sushi everyday. Everything he does is for and about sushi, to the point where he even dreams about sushi when he sleeps at night. From dawn till dusk, Jiro and sushi are one. 

And that's why the man is so good now! After years and years of daily improving, failing, experimentation, dreaming, doing, practicing, Jiro has left all his competitors in the dust.

Alright, sorry for the diversion... It's not like I'm really intending to become a pro skater or anything, but this is just something that I'm always thinking about. 

ANYWAY.

On Saturday night, the moon rose round and bright.

A group of 50+ skaters met at Bishan Park for Skateline's Mooncake festival skate to Woodlands Waterfront.

Though the skate started out kinda slow, it ended on a rather intense note. But all in all, I had a lot of fun!

Sunday morning, I went to the 07:30 service in church and then dropped in the Chinese youth service at 10:00. Man, it's been a loooongggg time since I was last part of this service. Such a strange feeling of nostalgia swept over me as I sat there surrounded by the same group of people (now all youth leaders), singing the same songs we once sang as secondary school students. 

After youth service was over, we went to Saizeriya in Bukit Timah Plaza to meet with Ida, our ex-youth group teacher who was in Singapore for a short visit.

Found some dry humour in the menu.

It's okay if I'm the only one who's laughing.

Food was alright. The smoked salmon salad was definitely better than the wasabi shrimp salad from Coffee Club! And at almost half the price, it's a win win winner.

After church and House of Bread, Papa picked me up to go for dinner with the fam in Geylang. 

Won't be revealing the location of this restaurant because it's crowded enough lol!

Had bean paste fish head.

Veggie soup. Very very very good veggie soup! 

Minced pork and salted fish.

Stir-fried beef and veggies.

Stir-fried tofu.

After dinner we drove through Chinatown.

Then went to Gardens By The Bay to join the rest of the Mooncake Festival crowd!

It's nice to actually be here without skates for once.

The moon didn't disappoint!

After Gardens By The Bay, we went to ECP for our usual candle burning nonsense.

My dad's right. It's like we never grew up. I probably will never outgrow this.

We lit and hung up lanterns at the pavilion we were in.

Joel got creative and decided to set a palm branch on fire.

Like a 野人 (wild man) LOL!

I love that we are still playing like this as "grown" children. 

May we never grow too old to enjoy ourselves!

Xiao Long Baos & Blading Woes

Woohoo! 

Blogging streak is ON!

Man, yesterday felt like a really long day at work.

But once the clock struck 19:00, off I went to ION to meet up with none other than...

MY AH KIM

We waited for a full half hour before there were seats available in Paradise Dynasty. 

Al fresco.

Sidenote: did you know "al fresco" in Italian literally means "in jail"? I read about that in Bill Bryson's book Mother Tongue. On an even further sidenote, I probably should've read that book before I started writing my senior thesis back in 2011. Such a timing fail.

Anyway, we shared a bowl of noodles with pork and Sichuan veggies. It was aight.

The must-have at Paradise Dynasty. Rainbow xiao long baos.

Tried the cold tofu and century egg appetiser for the first time and ended up really enjoying it!

Hmm... 

It seems like all I did this week was eat and shop. I haven't even rollerbladed a single night! Guess that's an achievement of sorts. But tonight, ahhh yess tonight.... Tonight I will be out blading while the rest of trendy Singapore flocks to the Marina Bay area to watch the Formula One race. Honestly, I just can't wait for all that racing stuff to be over so they'll remove the road barriers and I can start blading there again.

Think that's about the deepest thought I'll have for the rest of today. 

Updates Since Christmas

Sorry. sorry. I've been a slackerella, and I really have no excuses other than busyness and laziness. They're not very good excuses eh?

Also, I'm not even gonna bother to write a "let's look back on 2011" post because it'll probably take a million hours and take up three whole separate posts. Still, 2011 was an amazing year for me and I am so grateful to God for it! I'm just gonna cherish all those moments in my heart... 

The following pictures are just a quick run-through of what I've been up to. I'm going to really try to be more regular with these kinds of posts. 

Okay so this first picture is kinda lame. It's a baby grasshopper that was sitting in my spoon. For my dad's birthday last year (hah!), we went to Owen's Seafood at Turf City for dinner. I was quite sad when the waitress came to change my spoon. I asked her why she was taking away my friend and she looked at me like I was crazy. 

Oh yeah... *rubs tummy*... Bamboo clams, prawn soup, veggies, fried bee hoon, etc... The food didn't disappoint, as usual. 

After dinner, we celebrated at home with a nice little chocolate cake. Happy birthday Papa!

A day before New Years' Eve, I headed to Ah Yee's house for a nice BBQ dinner. 

My aunts got a little cheeky and got on the little kids' bicycles for a ride round the neighbourhood!

On New Years' Eve itself, I'd spent the whole day rollerblading at ECP. I was literally there from 09:00 till 16:00. Talia met me later and we gulped down fresh sugarcane juice at East Coast Lagoon Food Center. It was the best tasting sugarcane juice I've ever had in my life!

So awesome to be skating in that wonderful park again... 

Sunday, 1st January 2012, I spent the late afternoon walking around Katong with Talia. I finally got to visit the new mall called 112 Katong. It was kinda cute, I liked it! Lots of mushroom-looking things around. And the interior gave me a rather Peranakan feel; very appropriate!

For dinner, we headed to Katong Shopping Center to eat at the dear old Katong Gourmet Center. Gourmet sia!

As usual there was a line in front of the chicken rice stall. Katong Shopping Center's chicken rice is famous!

Talia had chicken rice.

I opted for pepper chicken chop from the Western food stall instead. You know what? It was actually pretty good! I was very pleasantly surprised. The sauce was good, but what was really REALLY good was the crispy chicken chop underneath. 

After lunch, we went walking around an area where I used to live. 

Managed to catch a stunning glimpse of the setting sun.

Singapore still has some peaceful neighbourhoods after all... 

Di Tanjong Katong...... You will always have a special place in my heart.

Monday, 2nd January 2012 was a public holiday, so I met up with Audrey, Rhoda and friends for lunch. 

We had lunch at Itacho in ION Orchard. There's usually a long queue in front of the restaurant so I assumed that the food was good or something. Oh boy, I was wrong. Not only was the food subpar, the service was also confusing. I felt that they were short-handed and their staff seemed rather stressed and all-over-the-place as a result. And not only was there a queue going in, there was also a queue on the way out of the restaurant- at the cashier where you had to pay. 

Blah. I hate crowded places like that, especially when the food quality doesn't match up. 

Rhoda's the first person from SPC whom I've met in Singapore. She was visiting her parents over winter break and I'm glad we were able to meet up.

What a small world. Turns out that one of Audrey's friends actually goes to the same school as Rhoda in London!

After lunch and a movie with Talia (We Bought A Zoo), I went to Pasir Ris Pond with Benedict and some of his friends for an evening of fishing adventure!

This was my first time fishing in Singapore, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Back in Pennsylvania, the fish species are different and obviously we didn't go to paid ponds to fish. 

I was happy when I finally caught my first fish! 

However, due to a series of unfortunate events, a part of my reel fell off and went missing. I searched high and low for it but to no avail. STINKS! Like seriously??!!!! I went to the fishing store and they didn't even have any spare parts of that brand. Looks like I might have to buy an entirely new reel. I am also considering getting a more sensitive rod- they're more fun to use. Mine is a little too stiff. 

I think between rollerblading and fishing, this has got to be the best weekend I've had in Singapore so far!

This needs to be the soundtrack of my life...