Have you tried rebooting?

Busy schedules

// November 8th, 2010 // No Comments » // Blogroll

It’s been a while since I  last posted. Started my new role, and have been flat-out ever since. Numerous email’s reminding me that the domain is up for renewal prompted me to drop by to put in a few words.

It never occurred to me in my previous roles that I can ever be so sucked in to work. I have had my share of busy periods in the past, which lasts for a good week or so, but never an end-to-end string of activities. Having said that, I do have friends who have had those sort of jobs and previously I never understood how or why it wasn’t possible for them to peel away. Until recently of course!

Don’t get me wrong. I love my job. Not because I’m afraid that my bosses would read up on this blog (which I’m sure they won’t because I don’t think anybody does) but more of the fact that I have always wanted to do this. However, like all passions, we get easily sucked up into what we do and we lose track of certain things. This didn’t really occur to me, until recently when I pondered and realised that I rarely do the little things that I used to enjoy so much in the past. For example, the joy of watching 8pm sitcoms on TV, morning grocery runs before the wife wakes, early morning cuppas, just to name a few. Then I start to wonder, if everything that I do for work is worth giving up on for those little joys.

Life is short that’s what everyone says. But is it truly?

I remember when I landed my first ever job at Disney. Looking back now, no where since then have I ever had a workplace where I did not have a single day that I was actually dragging my feet to work. I kid you not! We definitely had our off days from time to time that we dread going to work, but back at Disney, I was yearning to go to work every single day. Was the pay good? It’s not good but it was enough. Life was simpler, expectations were lower and life was as good as it can be. And I don’t remember having to work a single minute after 5pm. We even had the flexibility to work till 7pm from Monday to Thursday and would have made enough hours to take the Friday off!

It is because of ambitions and dreams that I decided that I needed to try something else and move away from Sydney.

So if you ask me today if its worth it… It’s a resounding YES.

However, I try to not lose sight of things too much. If you observe the people that have made it from rags-to-riches, you will realised that no matter how achieved or wealthy they are today, we  still see them hanging out at their favourite hawker stalls lining up like the rest of us…

Punggol Nasi Lemak Centre – Upper Serangoon Review

// April 8th, 2010 // No Comments » // Blogroll, Food, Singapore

Being Malaysian, I’m fairly picky over the quality of my nasi lemak. In Singapore, the definition of nasi lemak is somewhat different from across the causeway. In Singapore, nasi lemak is somewhat a blend of sweet sambal, coconut rice, otak-otak (otah as referred here in SG) and maybe a fried tiny fish or chicken wing. Fellow Malaysian’s would probably agree with me that the Malaysian styli is probably much more enticing, with flowing curry, beef rendang and scorching hot sambals as standard fare.

I have been on the hunt for a similar nasi lemak since I arrived in Singapore 2 years ago. Been to recommendations that were “supposedly” best in town but still no joy. Latest addition, the Punggol Nasi Lemak Centre on Upper Serangoon Road. Decided to drive past at around 1am hoping to skip the queues, but no getting away even at 1am. Fairly quick to clear however.

So did I finally find it?

Nope. Nada. Same ole, same ole. Was it good? Well yeah! Could probably go down as one of the better ones for the “Singapore Styli Nasi Lemak”. Definitely worth a try if you are around the area, but probably not so much if you are gonna go there just for that.

Anyhow, meanwhile, if you are a little like me craving the Malaysian Nasi Lemak, the closest fix is to get it at Old Town Coffee franchises around Singapore.

Punggol Nasi Lemak
965 Upper Serangoon Rd
Opening Hours : 6pm-5am

How things have changed…

// March 31st, 2010 // No Comments » // Blogroll

As I’m sipping away my coffee looking out towards Victoria Harbour, I looked back to 2.5 years ago when I was sitting at the same spot now. Can’t help thinking how much have changed. Obviously much younger then, still in excitement as to how it all fell into place, moving to Singapore from Sydney, and a change in role to something I have always wanted to do. Now reminiscing the journey, while the experience was good, it wasn’t always great and while some moments were awesome, some were extremely awful. Nonetheless, made some extremely good friends along the way. The signs are lining up and I believe the decision is a right one.

Hope the next journey will be quite as good.

Singapore Breakfast All Day – Wild Honey, Mandarin Gallery

// March 13th, 2010 // No Comments » // Blogroll, Food, Singapore

Nothing beats waking up on a Saturday morning after a hard week’s work to a nice cuppa and breakfast with fresh morning breeze in your face and warm sunshine on your skin. Something I sorely miss from my days in Sydney. My favourite Saturday hangouts back then were Campos and Urban Bites.

When I moved to Singapore, I enjoyed a style of breakfast which I’d always had growing up. Kaya butter toast, half boiled eggs and steamy hot Teh C. Love it as a daily breakkie for my Mon-Fri grind days, but come the Saturday or Sunday, I still prefer the usual hearty westernized breakfast like I used to love in Australia. So I set out in search for a similar joint in Singapore, and after 2 years, I finally found something worthy! (tried and tested many, none made the cut… )

The place is known as “Wild Honey”. It is located right smack on Orchard Road in a new shopping mall, Mandarin Gallery. This place serves up a variety of breakfasts classified by countries. For example, they have an Italian themed breakfast with frittata, fontina cheese, and tomato. Then they have a Tunisian breakfast with chorizo, eggs and tomato stew. Besides these 2, they have Japanese, English, Mexican and California just to name a few. They don’t have menus and you self-order at the counter. Alternatively, their pictorial menus are loaded onto 2 x iPod Touch near the ordering counter. This is really borderline funky / annoying. It is a fairly small joint, so it is best to go early to put your name down and go for a stroll. Coffee is fairly good at Wild Honey. They use Australian Roasted Vittoria Coffee, which I’m used to. However, I must say that the serving sizes aren’t all that huge, and you don’t really get to customise your breakfast anyhow you want it (or at least I didn’t try, pretty much just the sets). While the breakfast is good, they also don’t have the Aussie favourite. Vegemite toast and maybe a bacon and egg sandwich topped with BBQ sauce.

For me, this is as close as it gets to “fresh morning breeze and warm sunshine with good breakfast”, or if you prefer “cool air-conditioning and warm downlights with good food”. I do highly recommend this place. And btw, did I mentioned that breakfast is “ALL DAY”?! Enjoy.

Wild Honey
Mandarin Gallery,
Orchard Road, Singapore.
Telephone: +65 62353900

www.wildhoney.com.sg

Note : Didn’t bring my camera, so I just nicked photos from their site.

Tom N Toms Coffee, ICON Village Singapore

// December 30th, 2009 // 9 Comments » // Blogroll, Singapore

Recently, the F&B shops in ICON Village Tanjong Pagar were refreshed as part of a move by the management to make it a cooler/hip place to be.

One noobie was a Korean coffee chain called “TOM N TOMS COFFEE”. I was a little suss initially about it, given that the tagline for this store was screaming “Korea’s Famous Coffee”, and (seriously) Korea isn’t all that known for being the greatest coffee in the world. Anyhow, gave them a fair chance given that I love coffee.

Tom N Toms Coffee, ICON Village

Ordered a Cappucino and Plain Pretzel (given that it was on special) with Honey Mustard dippings.

The cappucino tasted fairly ordinary, but I must say they made good with the frothed milk (close to Campos in Newtown). However, what surprised me was the pretzel! I was half expecting the commercial pretzels like Aunty Anne’s, soggy and bunched up dough, but this was fluffy and most importantly baked fresh. It tasted even more heavenly with honey mustard. Yum…

Apparently, they have another branch at Far East Plaza. So if you guys are around Tanjong Pagar or Far East Plaza, do swing by and grab yourself one of these yummy pretzels.