Busy Weeks

Past 2 weeks were busy weeks, and thus I didn't have much time / energy to write interesting food / movie / social issues. Hopefully coming weeks are not as busy and I can have more time and energy to do non-work stuff.

:)

Past 2 weeks were also somewhat unlucky weeks. My graphics card just blew. So one of the nights I have to scout around Sim Lim for a card. Only found 1 shop that was still open for business, and I bought this HD 3850 card. Had to spent some time taking out old card, putting it in, and installing the drivers, with associated activities like testing of programs...etc etc...zzz.

Interestingly, while I didn't post much on both this personal blog and the other games blog, the game blog's drop of visitorship is not as stark. I guess my games blog has more 'long tail' content. lolz.

Happy Pot @ Esplanade's Glutton Bay

It's back to food time again! We were at the Esplanade hunting for food when we decided to try the Happy Pot. BBQ and claypot food during a rainy and cool evening should be nice.

The price is alright, with $13 for a BBQ and claypot set. The owner will pass you a plate and you can heap as much vegetables as you want onto the plate (including noodles). The $13 set also comes with two more plates of meat (1 marinated for BBQ, and 1 'plain' for the claypot), and a bowl of rice. I chose tom yam based soup for the claypot.

Here's the spread of food we had. While there is also a buffet option, we thought we would order other food if we are not filled enough. Frankly the $13 set can feed two persons quite well.

Grilling the food over charcoal takes a while, especially the pork ribs. The food had to be turned often to avoid them sticking to the grill. Overall the taste of the food is good, and quite value for money. They had marinated the BBQ plate nicely, and the tom yam soup tasted quite good. I would recommend to go there during cool evening since the charcoal flame could be quite warm on other days.

"Rub it from Scratch" @ Changi Airport T3

The Changi Airport Terminal 3 has become a place for family visits over the weekend. When we were there over the weekend, we saw plenty of locals bringing their family for a stroll. It feels more like a shopping mall with facilities for the kids, which is somewhat different from the 'feel' of Terminal 1 and 2. I think this brings in a lot of business for the shops there, and provide a mini 'Singapore' glimpse for those tourists who just arrived.

One facility that struck me was the 'Rub it from Scratch' corner at T3 basement 2. This reminded me of of similar activity when I was much younger *ahem*. Basically for wood blocks scratch, we would rub crayon or colour pencil over white paper placed over 'embossed wood blocks' to create pictures underneath. It is quite nice to see kids engaging in this activity at T3.

It seems this is a specially designed featured for T3, and there is some descriptions on the paper that commented that wood block scratching was a popular activity in the 1950s and 1960s. The artist who created these wood blocks should be 'Justin Lee' according to the description.

Those who are participating in the wood scratching, would take a blank piece of paper (provided in large quantities at T3) and placed it over these blocks. Crayons are also provided. Very thoughtful of the organisers. There were about 8 different designs that featured different aspects of Singapore.

Just for the sake of fun, I played along with the kids (and attracted some funny looks from those kids) and here's my 'creation'. Terminal 3 has become a more interesting palce to go. Lolz.

Booth @ SMU Selling Laptop Skin

When I was at SMU last week, I walked past this booth selling laptop skin. The designs look cool. Was asking the booth owners about these skins and they passed me their website instead. I guess they move around depending on available booth spaces.

Nonetheless, you don't have to go to the booth, since interested parties can go to their website and purchase the skins. These skins cost $15.90, and there is a $3 surcharge if you ask them to 'fix' the skin for you. Folks with their own interesting pictures could also customise the skins, which comes with additional $4 charges. Hmm $20 plus to customise the laptop can be a bit 'ex' for students, and I wonder if they offer 'student price' discounts?

Wine Fair @ Suntec Carrefour

Was passing by the Suntec Carrefour on Wednesday and decided to pop by the Wine Fair for a look. I think generally the bottles were on good discount. There were also quite a number of samplers for those interested. Since I was driving, I didn't really 'sample' too much.

Over the years, Carrefour @ Suntec has been holding a number of these wine fairs on a frequent basis. Personally I think such events are a great opportunity to try out different wines. I tried the South African Nederburg wines during one such fair, and have bought easily 8-9 bottles on various occasions.

However, after the wines are introduced and gained popularity, the prices start to go up. Nederburg late harvest used to cost like $18++ a few years back. It is now retailing at $26.90 per bottle (top centre bottle in picture below) at a supermarket (not Carrefour) in Bugis. At the Carrefour wine fair, the discounted price is about $22 or so.

Last year at the Carrefour wine fair, I tried Greek sweet wines, and thought the wine tasted good. We bought 2 bottles for our office events. So this time round I bought another of the Greek wine which cost about $34 or so. The Greek wines are really sweet, meant more for after meal consumption I suppose. For those interested, you could try them out since the wine fair is till 12 Oct, or if you miss it, do try at the next Carrefour Wine Fair (both Suntec and Plaza Singapura outlets hold them frequently).

Cut Fruits Vending Machines

There are now vending machines that sell cut fruits! I was at SMU looking for a place to study my notes when I come across this cut fruits vending machines. Seems like it is no longer such big news cos' there are articles in early Oct / end Sep that talked about the 22 such machines across the island.

The cut fruits vending machines are offered by Geok heng Enterprise, and each cup of fruits retails for $1 to $1.80. There are mixed fruits, guava, pineapple, honeydew...etc, and each cup comes with tooth picks for ease of handling. Wonder how often the retailer replaces the fruits. Well, so there is no longer an excuse not to eat fruits when access to cut fruits is so convenient.

Afternote: Straits Times ran an article on 11 Apr 09 about how popular such cut fruits vending machines were for the secondary school students.

Fish Spa - Pictures & Youtube

During one of the lunches at Marina Square, I passed by this place with a Fish Spa. Yupz, a spa treatment with many little (some are not that little) fishes nibbling away at the dead skin on your legs and feet. It is pretty funny to see people squirming away when the fishes nibble at their feet.

It is said that fish spa can help people with dermatitis problem. However, there were also news articles about people getting skin rashes after a session with these fishes. It is said that people with weak immune system or open wounds should not try the spa due to possible bacterial infection.

Here's also a short YouTube of those at Fish Spa. Quite funny to watch. I guess I would try given the chance, but to pay for fishes to nibble at my feet, hmm...