Dreams, Aspiration, Perspiration...

Recently, I am feeling rather disorientation and down with my own life. Things around me seems to be doing alright but something inside me seems to be missing and I can't seem put a finger to it.

Dreams... It is something that is always in one's mind and it should be something that keeps one going. It is a far-fetched reality that one strives to achieve and reach. Be it something tangible like money; or motivating like carving an idea into physical reality, these are things and should be things that one have within to push himself forward to new heights.

Aspiration... Someone or some 'thing' to look up to as a model or role-model. There will always be someone in one's life that he admires and trying all he can to live up to his standard. Pushing beyond bounds to attain that 'thing' that makes his soul feel satisfied.

Perspiration... The long hard road to bring oneself to reach the above 2. The everyday work that makes the tiny step forward to bring oneself closer towards them. The soulful giving everyday in one's life knowing that he is giving for a reason and for a greater good; and to know that the result is his to keep.

However, in recent times, I feel that I am lacking in all 3 of the above. I feel that I have lost sight of my dreams, dampen my aspirations and resulting in my loss of perspiration towards them.

Inside me, it breaks myself down to know so. And I really need to get my mind back on track. I know I am able to do so. With all the good people that make up my life story, I thank you all. You all may not know the impact you make to my life but the fact is that you do make a important impact to me everyday. I am lucky to have met you all, even if it was only a brief coincidence. I believe in one sentence I heard before. 'It is the little things you do in life everyday that makes a big difference.'

With time and effort, I will get out of this slump and relight my inner flame.

Thank you all,
Ken

Love is a journey...

To my darling bb,

I do not know whether you would visit me blog and read this but I really hope you do. 'cos I want to let you know that I cherish you...

Things that I may not usually show in words.... Things that I do not usually show in person at times... But I hope you do feel that you are the special one for me at those little times I show how I truly feel for you.

I am not a person who usually pour affectionate words of praise and love... but I try to use my subtle ways to show that I love her... Simple day to day things... Things like making coffee that you like... Fetching you to school when it rains... pampering you to slp.... sayang you when you need a hug and hug you back... Things that I can do and will do continuously 'cos I want to.... I want my bb to be safe... to enjoy being around me... and to be happy....

It hurts me to see my bb being sad... especially if the reason is because of me...

I am no saint.... I make mistakes all the times.... like saying the wrongs things... not doing certain stuffs.... not being sensitive enough... making you angry.... But I do not mean for those things to happen.... and I am doing my best to make sure that I am not bad as I was the previous day....

I want to be a better person because of you... 'cos I love you... And I hope my bb to shower me with her ways of love as well...

I can feel it... sometimes even when you scold me... you shout at me... when you are upset with me.... you show how much you truly care for me.... I do know it.. and feel it...

bb... this road is very long... and I will do all I can do slowly and walk this journey with you... Like I said in our photo... Let our future be forever filled with happiness and laughter forever n ever....

I love you.

Your big bb

Ivy's Wedding

Recently attend my Sec Sch friend's wedding... Therefore, took this oppurtunity to explore the finer details of my DSLR...

Hope you all like to photos.

Ken

Japan (Honshu) Experience...

Hi everyone,

Its been a while since I last updated my blog.. So I guess its about time I update it....

Recently I had been really busy with work... Our company's annual tradeshow is coming up in Feb and I had to prepare demostrations to be displayed during the show.... Anyway, I needed sometime to relax... therefore I thought of updating my blog with a little photo treat with my new Nikon DSLR... :)

I went to Japan for holidays recently... It was a Honshu experience (whatever that means.?!? :P)... Basically, the tour covered Tokyo, certain parts of Kyoto and Osaka... We went to Universal Studios and Disneyland too....

On the whole, it was a nice tour... With a lot of lovely sight-seeing... and fun and games at Universal Studios and Disney.... (But we fell sick near the end of the tour so could not really enjoy Disney.. sobs... ) The only comment that I have is about the food of the tour... I always have the impression that Japan have really great food and I was expecting to be greeted with mouth-watering dishes (too much of Japan Hour I think)... But sadly... the food was only ok.. There were of cos a few very good ones... i.e. the Sashimi Boat dinner... and the BBQ dinner... Other than that.. it was not to my expectations.... The tour guide did tell me that this tour's focus is more on sight-seeing..... I guess must really look for a food guided tour. :P

Well, below are some of the photos I took.. :)

Enjoy...
Ken

Hill Crest's Grill @ Bukit Timah

Another food posting from me...

This time is a treat from a friend of mine. And we went to this nice place at Bukit Timah where it seems a lot of foreigners know about but not a lot of locals... Hmm... Most of the people there are foreigners... Japanese, Germans, Brits, etc...

Oh well, back to main point.... (This review will be rather short... But will give a more detailed one when I get my digi cam)

Hill Crest's Grill... Situated at Bukit Timah...

The setting was nice and and quiet. I would say its a romantic place to bring ur guy or gal out on a date. The parking there is rather bad.. and its really hard to find a parking lot... Oh well, so we parked illegally... :P

Food wise.... I guess the restaurant is famous for its steak... so I ordered one of it. My friend however did not want to eat beef... and ordered a cod fish.... On the fresh catch of the day, there were also fresh NZ Oysters on the menu... so without hesitation... we order half a dozen of them....

The oysters tasted great..... it was so fresh.. that there is NO fishy smell at ALL!!!!! I just ate it with lemon and sea-salt.... it was fantastic......

The fish is.... welll... .not so good.... a bit fusion in style... and over-well-done for my liking.....

The steak was good... and it was juicy while maintaining its medium rare taste... (that's how I like my beef)... the freshness of the beef.. with its raw filling taste would make you feel like u are enjoying something truly wonderful.... There are 2 sauces that comes along with the steak.... A red wine sauce... and another 'sort of creamy' sauce (which I can't recall the name)... The red wine sauces suits it well.... brings out the aroma in the beef..... :) Puts a big big smile on my face..

Deserts wise... it serves a good array of classy deserts.... e.g. Creme Brulee... Tiramisu... some cakes..... which I dun remember... The Creme Brulee is good.... not too sweet... yet not too thick..... just nice... The Tiramisu was also not bad.... the whip... was soft.. and light.... the flavour was jus nice... not too sweet.... n fluffy... the base was good... with the coco top being aromatic... n the finger was soaked nicely.. with a good dose of espresso and a hint of liqueur... :)

That's all folks... will give a more detailed description when I go abck there again...

International Buffet Dinner at Greenhouse (Ritz Carlton Singapore)

It is our (Joline and I) half year anniversary and we wanted to celebrate it with a nice dinner. So after some discussion, we decided to patronise the Greenhouse at Ritz Carlton (Joline’s recommendation).

I made reservation for two on a particular Saturday night and was told that I was lucky since there were only a few tables left.

We reached the hotel around 6.45pm and I must say Greenhouse really lives up to its 6-star accolade. All the staff were polite and more importantly, they gave guests a genuinely warm welcome (which is not fake like some places).

Ok. Lets jump into the main topic. The Greenhouse.

Starting with the ambience. The Greenhouse is situated on the ground floor of the hotel (on the left side of the main entrance if I remember correctly). It adopts an open concept without any clumsy doors to open. In the open space, you can feel the vastness of the dining area which makes the environment comfortable and suitable for private dining affairs or for those who haven’t quite overcome claustrophobia (just kidding). Greenhouse’s design was modern and functional surrounded by the use of beech wood as a base (complementing the granite buffet tabletops) and the whole place is lit with a soft natural yellow lighting. I would not call its interior design contemporary or bold or unique but it does provide a very good setting for comfortable dining. For me, it translate to 'I am going to sit here for a long long time just to enjoy my food slowly!'. :p

Now to the most important part. Its food. haha...

Joline and I went for a walk around the spread. And I must point this out. The spread is very well distributed with each course of food with each own location (instead of all the food on a long table) and there is ample space to move around. There isn't a occasion throughout our meal that we had to queue for our food.

The first starter we went to was the soup section. There were 2 choices on offer that evening (shark's fin soup and Creamy Pumpkin soup). So naturally, we took both and shared. The pumpkin soup was GOOD; even though I am not a fan of pumpkin I could tell that the cream base is full and you can taste the pumpkin's freshness. The shark's fin soup was not bad either (there are really chucks of shark's fin in it). The soup base thinkness is just right and not just thicken by corn-starch. You could taste that it is slowly boiled to perfection. One tip for you here. I noticed something rather 'cute' from a lady who was taking the shark's fin soup in front of me. She was scooping the top of the pot for her bowl. For all shark's fin lovers, take the scoop and give the pot a good stir from the bottom up (so that you will find the 'treasures').

Did I mention that all the hot beverages are included with the buffet? And for coffee lovers, their normal brew is not bad at all. But you might wan to have it with cream as it is rather acidic (a bit tending towards Columbian).

We went straight for the main course on our 2nd round. And wooooo..... the spread was jus so tempting. The main dishes were located in the centre of the buffet spread forming a circle and the main theme was Indian & Chinese dishes. The staple food was E-fu noodles and nasi-bryani, thus I chose nasi bryani 'cos I am not really a noodle fan. There was a sort of yoghurt sauce beside the bryani which I was hesitant to take at first, not knowing how it would taste like ( but I absolutely did not regret it). Moving down the circle, there was chicken braised with dark soy sauce topped with melted cheddar cheese (most unique), seafood assortment (a bit like Peale without the rice), braised beef (normal), sea-cucumber with different types of mushrooms (really LARGE sea-cucumbers with ultra succulent mushrooms), vegetable korma (suprisingly tasty though simple), chicken masala (light tasting spices and feels like I was back in the UK eating Indian takeaway [in a good way]), stir fried red snapper with peppers and onions (normal), king prawns stir fried with veg (they were big but taste so so, maybe 'cos I took the last one on the warmer).

The nasi bryani was very fragrant and the best thing abt it was that it was not oily. The yoghurt sauce made it even more appetizing. Mixed together with the vegetable korma and chicken masala, it would easily be a very satisfying Indian meal (but of course, this is a buffet so one flavour isn't enough). The chicken was one of the best dishes there. I was quite surprised that the combination of cheddar cheese oven-melted on top of the braised chicken was such a wonderful combination. The chicken was braised to perfection and (I must add) they are FRESH.

The sea-cucumber with mushrooms was silky smooth too. It was soft and chewy. Those feelings where the sea-cucumber melts in your mouth as you savour its juices with the flavour of the mushrooms together with the sauce. Heaven!!!


Round 3. Time to attack the seafoods section.

I have always enjoyed fish. But ever since I started eating steamed fish head, I have slowly enjoyed eating raw fish. And I am 'quite' particular about freshness of fish. Therefore, I took a plate and lined it up with sashimi (consisting of salmon, swordfish and tuna). I was lucky enough to receive a brand new serving of fresh salmon from the kitchen (than those laying out for sometime) and it was good. The swordfish was also not bad. The tuna was ok ('cos tuna will only taste good when it is really really really fresh). Hmm... it may sound as though there is nothing spectacular abt the sashimi; but know this, I ate a whole buffet plate filled with the 3 fishes all by myself... :P (my gf ate a few pieces too). Its just that I don't know how to make raw fish interesting (those who eat fish often should know how to enjoy anyway:P).

Beside the raw fish, there are also a wide variety of other seafood. E.g. baby lobsters, oysters, mussels, big prawns, etc. There are also a section for seafood salads. One unique dish I taste from my deardear's plate was a barbercued salmon with assorted vegetables. You could taste that the salmon was really either flamed grilled or BBQed.

By this time, I am actually rather full... (Gone are the days where I could eat endlessly..) So we stayed there for a while, enjoying our coffee (a new cup will be served to you in replacement rather than taking a pot and pouring it in your old cup) and enjoying the surrounding area where we were seated. Like I mentioned earlier, the interior design of the place tends towards being practical and functional rather than bold or intriguing. It makes one feel that it is really a place to dine in rather than just to be wowed at. The waitresses are generally well-mannered and immaculately dressed. The captains are all very professional and could handle the crowd very well. Oh, I forget to say that by this time (ard 8-8.15pm), Greenhouse is totally filled to capacity. But yet, you won't feel that you are encapsulated or trapped in a tight spot... All the furnishings are well spaced out giving the sense of comfort and space.

After a good rest, it was time for deserts.

The choices were alarming. There is a fruits section, a chocolate section and a cake/deserts section. Oh well, we totally skipped the fruits corner and head straight for the cake and deserts. Joline took a piece of their Black Forest Cake together with another one (which I believed to be their Tiramisu Cake). I took a portion of their Tiramisu (not the cake one) to give it a go. There are a lot more others to choose from but from here on, I guess I could only take what I really wanted to eat... 'cos I am just too full.

I also stopped by the chocolate section and took a pair of every chocolate they had (except white and milk chocolates).

The best desert among the cakes we took would surely go to the Black Forest Cake. It tasted great. It has been a long time since I could taste the fresh liqueur filled berry or grape within the chocolate layer (which was just right and not being so thick) and the top layer sponge being so soft and fragrant. The Tiramisu cake was ok...

But I do not like the Tiramisu... (I will explain..)... To me, Tiramisu is suppose to be special. Served in a small cup or small bowl proportioned to one. But what was served at the buffet was a gigantic bowl (those glass bowls where you use to beat egg whites) of Tiramisu with a heavily soaked bottom where the sponge/coffee/rum mixed and with a top layer than isn't really supposed to be tiramisu (seems to be like they mixed some soft sponge cake with their recipe)... So if you wan to eat good Tiramisu (hmm.. maybe you ppl out there can enlighten me on this one), you all can try Hill Crest's Grill @ Bukit Timah??

Ok. Now an overall summary.

Greenhouse is a superb place to dine and enjoy a good time. Its setting is comfortable and conducive for a good meal. And the food itself (for a buffet standard), its up in a class way above average. Even though you would be able to find better places for each individual dish, but you won't be able to find many (if any) places where a buffet spread serves quality in every dish.

So make a booking when u are free. Do give it a try and tell me what you think. :)

Have a nice time dining!




*Next up will be a review on Hill Crest's Grill if I hv the time....:P

Liquid dreams @ e Liquid Cafe (Upper Thomson Road near Mandai Road)

Some gems are rarely noticed when they are right in front you at time. It applies to loved ones and for this case, it applies to food as well...

The Liquid Cafe @ Upper Thomson Road is such a rare gem.

Well hidden and tucked away in a corner, it provides a nice escape from a hard day's work. (Jus when you get on the Upper Thomson Road from Mandai Road, u will see a SPC petrol station. Make a left turn into the shophouses as u pass the petrol station) I have been there for a number of times (actually, I am there every wednesday evening without fail..) and I truly feel relax when I am there, away from the hustle n bustle of traffic and noise through my day.

Ok, let go down to the food they offer. If u are expecting it provide u with ultra-unique food or some 'out of the world' dishes, u will be dissappointed. It does, however, provides a decent menu with enough choices to leave u spoilt for choice. I would give the sandwiches they offer a thumbs-up. It may look pathetic with only a small offering of 5 different choices but trust me, it is enough to keep u happy. In particular, the Ham and Cheese sandwich would be my reccommendation. The type of bread they serve looks like a panini but it is so soft and nicely warmed with a light crusty feeling when u sink ur teeth into the melted cheese. You could also add sides to your sandwich if you feel a desire to eat more.

If sandwiches are not of your fancy, you can try their ceaser salad with Chicken. It is GOOD, especially when the chicken is freshly fried. The pasta ain't bad either.

On the drinks side, the have a long list of different fruit freezes that sure will wonder (can I hv them all!?!?!). But dun bother with the coffee (not saying its bad), stay healthy and drink the juices or help urself to the free flow of water they serve.

Overall, it is a nice quiet place to hang out for a lazy evening...

Place which serves memories.... TCC@Shenton

TCC @ Shenton Way

Recently visited TCC (The Coffee Connoisseur) @ Shenton. For those who have not heard of TCC b4, its an upmarket coffee house which serves several blends of roasted coffee to soothe the taste buds of the avid 'caffeine addict'... This branch in particular prides itself with a nice ambience and setting for a romantic evening (afternoon too!) or a casual chillout spot for the type who likes to sit around relaxing doing nothing...

Much could be said about the variety of drinks they serve here... but the quality is rather varied... I think it much depends on ur luck on who prepares it.. But not much could be said about the quality of food there.. I am not saying its bad... For the average crowd, its way better than a lot of places.... Noteworthy dishes include their Wedges with cheese dip, the club sandwish (remember to ask to hv the bread toasted nicely)... several main dishes are good as well... But this is more of a place to chillout than to enjoy a proper (good food) meal.... *I will be doing more reviews on places for food soon*

Here are some photos for u to enjoy... together with those I took on my daytrip along Chinatown...

Have a break

A recent photo I took which I like

Self Searching in Shanghai

It has been a while since I last updated my blog... This is because I was in Shanghai for the past month spending time with my gf who is working there...

I must say that living together with your loved one over a period of time will make you understand each other much better... Each other's habits will slowly show and both will have work hard to make the relationship work... Love will prevail through time if it works...

It was an enriching time for me to understand myself and really know what I wan to do... There are a lot of things that are hard to explain in life and I must live through it to know what it really means... So I guess I take it one step a time ba....

I am jus grumbling.... but anyways.. enjoy some photos I took in Shanghai.. you will see how advanced China has become..

A night after my final exams (UK)

I was digging through my past UK photos when I came across a little 'adventure' my friends and I had.

It was a night out to do something stupid out of boredom in our school.

While other people are out clubbing their hearts out to celebrate the end of exams, we choose another method of expressing ourselves. hehe...

Enjoy...

The few words in my mind

It has been nearly 4 months since I came back from UK. And life in Singapore is always full of unexpected surprises. Well, there are also unexpected surprises in the UK as well. :)

In Singapore, it seems to me that everyone is rushing abt from place to place. Everyone seems to be busy and seems to have an agenda to pursue. Sometimes, I wonder to what end... Maybe there are jus so many things to be done in life's everyday, every hour, every minute and second...

Hmm.. its jus a tot aloud....

Am I also one of them? I dun know... Are you one of them too? Maybe you could ask yourself.. :)

Cheers,
Ken

Trip up Silk Road (China)

Hi all,

After a short break back in Singapore after my Europe tour, I was up on my feet again and ready to travel. This time I am going to the Silk Road in China. Many peers who went on this journey told me that it would be very rewarding as I will find another side of the world which I, an urban man, have not seen my entire life.

And true enough, it was an eye-opener. It made me realise that Singapore is so tiny when compard to the vastness of China. Combine with untouched natural landscape and views of towns at the dawn of industrialization, you can see that China is a growing country like Singapore some 40 years ago.

Hmm.. From writing my blogs, I realised that my memory isn't that good as I cannot remember the names of the places I have been. But I hope you like the photos I have chosen to for this entry of mine.

Enjoy...

Best Regards,
Ken

Past photos for your viewing pleasure

Hmm, my interest for photography started without my knownledge when I was studying in UK. I took a lot of photos and started to like feeling I get from my pictures.

Here are some of my previous photos. Hope you like them as much as I do.

Enjoy.

Ken