Chef Malcolm Lee personally created the menus and dishes. Mr Nice and I were lucky that he was the chef tonight and served up our tasting menu we selected at SGD98+ 7% GST +10% service per pax.
Click on the menu to see it at 100% readable.
I chose Limau Assam Boi at SGD9 a glass. Mr Nice had a white wine spritzer.
Our dinner menu begins…
Worth every penny! It earned One Michelin star! Well done Chef Malcolm Lee.
Monday night I received a message from a peer that she was told to leave her job….marching orders. I was shocked and listened in disbelief.
Her Supreme Lord felt she was not doing her job, despite her 8 year stint in this role.
I felt sad as I know how stressful my work has been and expectations to perform is high.
This peer has copied off alot of my work so that she need not put effort in it. I did not mind as I was always happy to share. But after this episode, I found out that she was also quietly taking my memos through Ms Feisty and passing off as her own too.
I felt sad as no one counselled nor spoke to her about her shortcomings but held it for 8 years to boot her out.
It would have been nice if Supreme Lord pointed out her errors in ways and gave her a chance to improve.
I gave her an hour to pour out her woes and felt sad as she bawled her eyes out.
It could have been me or anyone to be in this person’s shoes as some Lords are too chicken shit to correct people but so brave to give the boot!
In my work as minion hood, I am expected to be a strategist, a cleaner on aisle 3 or whenever shit hits the fan, sack or hire minions, do what others don’t want to do and everything else under the sun.
Minions are not paid handsomely but are expected to perform the tasks of 3 manpower.
Minions must be zen, earnest to learn.
Minions must be cool, calm and collected.
This is the new economy as minions are plentiful and jobs not so plentiful unless one is prepared to work as a supermarket check out girl or stockist.
Singapore is relaxing more measures against Covid-19 as vaccines are rolled out. No more split teams required but no cross deployments allowed still.
At the last report, almost 1 million – 950,000 have been vaccinated.
I will be happy when herd immunity is achieved for my lil red dot.
Meanwhile, from 5 April, up to 75% of us are allowed back to office. But Eunuch wants 100% back at the office as his belief is that 25% will be out for meetings. My guess is if safe distancing officers from the goverment does a surprise visit, his math better add up!
The quarantining of visitors are proving effective as we do get alot of Covid cases blocked at the ‘gates’ of quarantine.
I am back 100% from Tuesday as I needed a day off to bring my folks for their medicals. I will miss work from home as I save an extra hour and can start work fast whereas going to the office requires me to be up at 5.30am and hit the roads by 6.45am to be at my desk by 7.15am.
Happy Easter folks and I hope you had a fun time doing the easter egg hunt with your kids or nieces and nephews!
Monday is the start of a brand new work week. Baah!!
On the scale below, I am not #9. Probably I am #1 & #5!!
What about you?
Monday is also the start of the week’s continuing local family drama, Kin.
The half hour episodes have plots that are full of twists and turns involving the Shelleys, the Lohs, Yang and Shen (disassociative disorder doctor/surgeon) and the Balas. I see lots of scheming for money and keeping of secrets…it is just riveting.
Kin is now into its 592nd episode which I can binge watch in advance for the week ending Friday. 5 half an hour episodes, each episode I start watching from 7pm and end 9.30pm. This is the only highlight of my Mondays!
Good news is that the plumber did a good job of removing my old vanity counter, wooden cabinet and sink in the toilet. A new stainless steel cabinet and ceramic sink now sits beautifully in my toilet.
I have a brand new poop throne too but will not show it as geee who would want to see a poop throne right?!🤣🚽🚽🤣
Life goes on….
White Coat was in a placid mood when I saw him last Wednesday. There was no long queue to see him and I was seen as soon as I arrived at 9am which was a boon as government hospitals usually require me to wait minimally for 2 hours.
I suppose with Chinese Lunar New Year just over, patients were not in the jolly mood to see doctors just yet.
ME
” Gong Xi Fa Cai White Coat and how was your new year? Did you do much visiting?”
NOTE1
I had to play the nice victim here as I maybe sliced and diced by him so I turned up the charm.
WHITE COAT
” Just stayed home as limited to 2 households a day. “
ME
” Aaah so you saved on spending on hong baos (red packets of monies distributed to singles or children)” I quipped.
WHITE COAT
” No lah….red packets still need to be given”
NOTE 2
In light of digitalisation, E Hong Baos have been created by banks and transference of money can be done electronically. I prefer the touch and feel of opening a red packet and counting the fresh, crisp new notes.
ME
” See my swollen left hand – is my condition worsening?”
WHITE COAT
” Could be your underlying auto immune issues acting up. What did Prof Fong prescribe for your auto immune?”
ME
I am now squirming as I do not take meds unless drastically required. ” Erm I do not take meds at all. if I am in pain then I take an NSAID”
WHITE COAT
” What is wrong with all of Prof’s patients! Each of them refuse to take meds!” he sound edgy.
NOTE 3
I need to quell his edginess….think fast woman!
ME
” You are very handsome”
It worked. It fizzled out! LOL!
I had to have a steroid injection to resolve the pain. It was brutal and he asked me if I have had such injections before of Shincort and Lidocaine…told him yes, last time 38 injections!
He rolled his eyes.
I need surgery and I am still maintaining August schedule. He has assured me that not much difference and downside to failed surgeries are permanent numbness.
Sigh!
My paws are still hurting.
My left paw is more swollen than my right paw, but my right paw hurts more than my left paw.
Neurologically, my left paw is in worst shape than my right paw but physically my right paw hurts more than my left paw!
Confused yet? Sheesh…I am!!
Nothing is normal about me. Scans or Xrays can show one thing but anatomically it is worst than what it shows till the White Coat goes in with the choppers!
Truth be told, I am scared out of my wits as I am unsure how surgeries on both paws will evolve.
How will the outcome be?
Stay tuned till August 2021…meanwhile I am gritting teeth and as they say, sucking it up! LOL!
An onion in my basket of garlic and such decided to sprout a shoot.
Without any spare soil, I decided to try and grow it using water – hydroponically speaking LOL.
The onion bulb itself will be sufficient nutrients for the spring onion to emerge. At least I hope it will 😅
Meanwhile, my money plant is doing fairly well, enjoying the breezy winds and daily watering.
I try to twirl the creeping plant, wrapping it in between the other leaves. I had set the base with disposable chopsticks that I re-purposed for this. It grows rogue style LOL!
My pot of cactus or cacti (as it has little sproutings) has not blossomed. I wonder if this species of cactus is indeed a flowering type!? Hmm…
Anyway…Happy Sunday evening on my end….Master Chef Singapore is programmed for 9.30pm. I am curious how the engineering student, air stewardess, dentist and property agent will fare.
Good luck to the cook off! May the best chef wins.
I do not have a lot of memories and whatever I have or gained in the years post surgeries are not worth remembering is how I feel.
You might ask me – WHY?
Memories to me are the past and I do not wish to relive the past as there is really nothing much to relive and remember pain, suffering and how things did not turn out the way I had hoped for.
I tend to live in the now and the present as what good can memories do to help me?
To remember how I trusted the wrong people? Remind myself for being silly thinking that knowing a person since childhood or as a young adult is knowing that person truly?
To remember bosses from hell? Not worth it!
To remember siblings for not caring? I don’t need to suffer the anguish and expectations of having a sibling in name despite same blood that course veins.
I am not being dark or ungrateful if you think I am.
What is the purpose of memories? Some say it is to relive the good moments. Hmm…I don’t have a lot of those and to me, a good moment is watching a nice soapie or a nice dinner with a person in the here and now and walk away.
I am glad that anaesthesia wiped away a lot of my memories – both good and bad.
The trouble is that being human, I have expectations and this is so wrong.
There is nothing in the manual (if there is such a manual) that siblings are expected to care for each other or for their parents.
There is nothing in that same manual to say that relationships between man and woman are expected to be served in a certain manner.
MR EX is a good example. He purports to care for the world and family but in all the decades I have known him, I was never in his totem pole of care unless I was needed to be a rainmaker or to do something of use to him.
Lords of work places will value me for the service I provide and nothing more. I am obliged to serve my sentence as I am paid. I cannot expect thanks and or appreciation as I am a paid minion. It is also wrong to think that relationships or friendships can be built especially in organisations with more than 300 minions.
I must learn to walk away from siblings thinking they owe me due care or that they owe due care to our parents. I really cannot expect that and it is wrong of me to do so.
Life then gets to be less painful as no expectations and if things are done in a surprising manner, wouldn’t that lift my spirits!
I am silly I know but this is my coping mechanism to continue in my journey of life and pooh pooh away the thought of having or storing memories.
Live spartanly, lesser baggage and life gets better all round I feel.
For those who are just stumbling onto my blog site – welcome and thank you for reading.
For my good blog friends and followers, you will know that Lil Red Dot (fond nickname of Singapore) is a foodie paradise. Singaporeans love to eat and complain. This is our Singaporean trait and uniquely defines us.
So much so that our quest to be UNESCO heritage site to make Lil Red a place for hawker trade was successful in 2020!
The flavors of our food are unique and we are a melting pot of cuisines from all over the world. As our Lil Red Dot has 4 major ethnic groups, we have terrific Malay cuisine that is chock full of spices, flavors that tinscillates any discerning palate.
Salty, spicy, coconutty creamy and interwoven with chillies and condiments, fish, meats and poultry or veggies are transformed into dishes that westerners find exciting.
Our Chinese cuisine has hues of Szechuan peppers, plain Teochew styled dishes, Hokkien noodles such as Hokkien Mee or Hakka’s thunder tea rice that is totally vegetarian.
The Eurasian culture or Portuguese curries such as Devil’s curry and a mix of western and eastern flavors makes it delectable too.
What is even more unique is that we have residents from Japan, S Korea, Turkey etc and with them, come their unique cultural blend of foods. Plenty of sushi, sashimi, udon, kebabs and the list goes on.
I find that over the years, the traditional dishes get reinvented by young aspiring chefs and especially with the Master Chef series and prominent chefs like Gordon Ramsey, Jaime Oliver and others, many have decided to throw their pens or laptops to be a chef.
Lawyers, dentists, doctors, office workers and housewives have now decided to be their own entrepreneurs and I am so surprised to see a local ice cream shop selling spicy ice cream made to taste like nasi lemak ( rice cooked in coconut milk served with sides of peanuts, anchovies, cucumbers, chilli paste and fried fish or chicken parts) or malay desserts like Chendol (shaved ice with fillings like palm seeds, red beans, jellies and palm sugar to taste in the coconut soupy base).
I have seen how food fusion has emerged and with it, comes new tastes.
Some flop. Others succeed but I wonder if it will be a food fad and wear off?
I can understand why visitors from Australia or USA or Europe love our food as we are a hodge podge of everything and Satay seems to be the overall favorite alongside chicken rice which even our Singapore Airlines serve in First Class or Business Class (before Covid-19)
Western food centers on BBQ, ribs and a main dish with salad, soups and breads, followed by dessert of ices, fruits or cakes. Ours is anything goes, without need for sequencing. Eyes see – stomach growls, cash paid, food is down the gullet.
With the Covid-19 pandemic, our tourism trade has grinded to a halt. Long time stalwarts of western food restauranters like Dan Ryan Chicago Grill and Tony Romas have folded. These are my 2 favorites for western dishes such as ribs or salads. I first stumbled upon Dan Ryan’s in Hong Kong’s Pacific Place.
So it is to be expected that new food entrepreneurs may open and shutter after a while as cost of service staff and rental really kills the grade if footfall disappears and no influx of tourists or pandemics such as Covid forces all to be housebound.
Such are the risks of business I guess. If you make it, you hit the jackpot till you are faced with new challenges.
Rule #1
I need not let others dominate my life by letting them make me angry, sad or helpless.
I can think of a few people who constantly do this to me but some of them, I cannot omit but must strive to learn to draw boundaries.
Snoopy’s wisdom ring true as I hardly reward myself with anything. My life has been thus far, a life without choices as I take up the slack that no one wants to take ownership for. But can I really turn my back on my selfish family who hides behind the excuse that I don’t live in lil red dot and so, their elderly parents are not their concerns nor responsibilities?
What would I do without starter fluids every morning?
That bitter coffee roast flowing through my gullet and signalling the bag of bones that it is another gruelling day ahead for me.
I do not know what makes me tick! All I know is that, I get up, I face more responsibilities.
I want a care free life.
I yearn for a life with minimal responsibilities and not living my life for others.
I want to be able to do what’s best for me and not always putting others first. I guess I am tired, drained from all the responsibilities and wish to remove the yoke and wake up to carefree days.
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