Korean Food (by the Roadside) - Part 2

Finally here comes Part 2 of the Korean Food experience. The month long absence was due to a combination of factors, including job, computer malfunction, and others.

There are quite a number of road side stalls with somewhat unique korean food. There is this bbq squid cooked using hot stones (instead of naked flame). The squid is the raw un-dried version, and after being cooked on the stones, there is this combination of slight crispy taste with chewy texture. This will be one of the Korean food I missed.

There is also the Yakitori / satay version in Korea. There is this stall near a park, where passer-by just ordered the food and ate on the spot. The stall also offers plain soup to wash down the food.

Roadside stalls offer not just food, but also some form of entertainment, as the would be buyers would crowd around the stall to look at the entire food making process. This is especially true for this Myeong Dong fishcake. The food is freshly made on the spot, and we witnessed the entire process of mashing the fish paste into tubular forms before the stall owner deep fried it. The aroma alone is already enticing enough to draw the long queue.

There is also thsi stall which sells twisted potato on sticks! There is a machine to slice the single potato nicely while twirling it on a stick. After deep frying it, we can dip the potato onto cheese and enjoy it on the go.

After we came back to Singapore, I realised that the Korean food outlet at Kallang Leisure Park is also selling the same twisted potato. I guess it is a Korean thing.

Korean Food - Part 1

After a good long holiday in Korea, it took some adjustments when one is back to the humid and hot Singapore. Nonetheless there are lots of photos that captured moments of Korea trip, and here's some of the food photos.

Let me show the non-spicy dishes first. Hotpots are fairly common in Korea when you have groups of people sitting together to enjoy a meal. These hotpots are fairly standard, with clear flavourful broth and meat / vegetables simmering in the metal pans while the diners pick pieces of the different accompanying dishes as appetizers. The Koreans do have a lot of different appetizers to try, including the many varieties of kimchi, fish cake, bean sprouts, fish slices...etc.

At times they would add a big squid / octopus into the hotpot for variety sake. What is surprising is that their shrimps are really small. I thought the easy access to the seas should yield bigger prawns instead of really mini-size shrimps. Hmm.

Of course, another popular non-spicy Korean dish is the ginseng chicken. The Koreans enjoy it by adding in a small cup of ginseng liquor that helps to bring out the flavour of the hot soup in the stone bowl. The glutinous rice stuffed in the chicken serves as the carbs for the meal. For those who are hungry, portions of noodles can also be added.

The Koreans have a lot of spicy food actually, and I will introduce them in the next post.

e-Books, lucky draws... by the public library

The public libraries are getting more innovative in their service offerings. It is quite interesting to read that the library offers an 'digital books borrowing' service. I think that is a great initiative. Well I do have an account, but let me try to recall my password first :p Their website featuring the many different titles do look attractive. Now I wonder if I should buy a Sony Reader to read books on the go. The different versions with 5" to 7" sells for between S$200-S$350. Quite expensive for a 'book reader' I would say. Maybe at the next IT show there will be discounts.

Other than the digital library concept, I've also seen a number of lucky draws where borrower of 4 books would be entitled to a lucky draw ticket. Nope I didn't win anything from the draw. The Marine Parade branch even have trading card games to give away should the person borrow 4 books (no I didn't get any).

Going to the library is indeed a hip thing to do, and yes they do need more seats and tables. Couches and quiet reading rooms would be great!

Confusion on the Statistics About New Citizens, Employments, and Flats

I was reading the various transcripts by the political leaders about new immigrants, employments and housing. Quite frankly the statistics do not add up properly to tell a convincing story.

Firstly, from PM Lee's speech on 15th 2009 we have the following paragraphs (extracted from PMO website) that 7,000 more jobs were created for Singaporeans, i.e. employment from the 1st half of 2009:

When the economy turns down, the foreign workers provide us a buffer. This year has been a very bad year. Everybody knows the economy has shrunk. We have not a bad year like this for a very long time. But in the first half of this year, not many of you would know in fact the number of Singaporeans working has gone up. Local employment actually increased, not much - 7,000 more jobs - but in this environment to have more Singaporeans at work is amazing. And why did it happen? Because the impact was absorbed by the foreign workers and the shrinkage in the workforce was taken up by the foreign workers. We have 20-odd thousand foreign workers (net) who lost their jobs and they buffered us from the impact. Therefore, I think that the foreign workers do a good job in Singapore, for Singaporeans.

During the same few days in Sep 2009 we have another news release, also from PMO website that 20,513 people took up Singapore citizenship in 2008:

Last year, 79,167 foreigners became PRs and 20,513 took up citizenship - more than the 63,627 PRs and 17,334 new citizens in 2007.

Thus if we make the assumption that majority of the new citizens should be working personnel, i.e. gainfully employed in one way or another, that means the so called '7,000' employments for Singaporeans are largely due to those working PRs who became Singaporeans? If the rates (20,513 and 17,334) are indicative for this year's statistics, that means half of the year would amount to 8,600 to 10,000 Singaporeans 'employed' as a result of them converting to Singaporeans? Hmm wouldn't that be more than the 7,000 mentioned in PM's speech? Thus, discounting these new immigrants, the pool of working Singaporeans actually decreased isn't it?

Another point about the confusing statistics is the housing data. We have largely heard that HDB will build enough flats to manage demand. What is interesting in that piece of news is that about 8,000 new flats will be rolled out. From the earlier PMO news release, we know that we have 79,167 new PRs and 20,513 new citizens that adds to a total of 99,000 plus people needing a palce to stay. If we add in the new marriages, the number of people needing housing will surpass 100,000.

8,000 new flats and more than 100,000 people needing housing. So that simply means people who need a palce to stay will need to consider private property. I seriously have doubts that private property will be within reach of many new PRs or newly wed couples. So I guess that explains why the HDB resale, as well as private property, have been experiencing a rising price phenomenom in this weak economic situation (i.e. 2008 and early 2009).

Lala Clam Ate a Small Crab!

We were ordering chili fried seafood, including lala clams, sotongs (squids), as well as stingray at one of the coffee shop by Circular Road. The food were generally good, with big portions and just right spiciness.

I was prying to open one of the lala clams when I notice a particularly big 'garlic' stuck to the open shell. That got me curious since this 'garlic' seems to have some hairy bits sticking out of it. (inside the red circle of the picture below)

Then it dawned upon me (upon closer inspection) that is is actually a small baby crab!

I guess the clam must have closed its shell when this baby crab walked too near it. Poor crab, but oh well I helped it took revenge by eating the clam. :)

LTA Land Transport Gallery

I had a chance to visit the LTA Transport Gallery some time back and the visit is quite informative. The admission is free and the Transport Gallery is located at the LTA office next to Little India MRT. The visit is interesting, especially for those who still recognized many of the ‘history items’ that are on display.

For example, do you recognise these bus guides (other than the latest versions)? In the past these guides were really named as SBS Bus Guides, and it was only much later that the name was changed to Transitlink Guide.

It was also pretty nostalgic to see the old bus tickets. I remember the days when I boarded buses and the bus conductor would walk around to ask the passengers for payment, then punched a slip of bus ticket. Unlike the later one – man coins operating system, the bus conductor actually gave change and there was no need to worry about having exact makeup of coins. Yes, all these would seem rather foreign to the younger generations who are used to the current contactless Ezlink card system.

There were other old items, pictures, and models to depict the history of our transport system. Here’s a picture of the pre-independence traffic controller, i.e. human traffic light! I wonder how it feels to be able to control traffic movement simply by the pulling of signboards. I guess it must have been a boring job to keep pulling left / right levers for the entire day.

Beyond historical developments, the Transport Gallery also showcased the current transport systems, with some models about the upcoming developments. Quite informational.

Those who are interested to visit the Transport Gallery, could give LTA a call at 63962550. The Gallery is opened from Tuesday to Sundays, except public holiday (yah it is quite different from other museums), from 9am to 5pm. The entire walk is about an hour or so, with slated tour group timing at 9am, 11am, 1pm and 3pm.

Life's Randomness

It is peculiar how life can take a different twist and turn when one least expects it.

I have always thought of trying out new things in a new work environment, but frankly I have never got around to do it. Put simply there is some resistance to move only because I am comfortable where I am working. Work is not all that great, but with all things, there are good factors that retain a person in his existing role. Good colleagues, nice benefits, some (not all) great bosses, and so what more can one ask for?

It is peculiar that when certain events are set in motion, one thing follows another, and suddenly I discovered that I am now propelled straight into a new work environment!

The speed at which events took place, and the coincidence of matters collided and created no other viable options. It is a pity in some ways that there are so much more work that I could have contributed, but I guess we all have to move on when it is time.

It is peculiar that I finally got what i originally ask for, i.e. to try out something new, but the journey of reaching there is one that is truly unexpected.