Random Shot: Taking Teddy Bear Out For A Sun Tan

Anson loves to bite his teddy bear and it quickly starts to smell..

So his mother had to take the bear out to dry..Sleeping with Mickey Mouse in the afternoon wasn’t the same for Anson.

Early reunion dinner

My brother-in-law will be on bus duty during Chinese New Year so my wife decided to have dinner with him a week early.

What a feast we had though simple.

First dish – Fried prawn deep in marmite

Next dish is stir fried Broccoli with mushrooms and razor clams..

 

Steamed pomfret in  soya sauce and spring onions..

 

Fried flatten spring rolls..

and finally.. Red and white carrot soup

A little Thai cafe in Bedok

There is a new Thai cafe, Nakhon Kitchen, on Bedok North Avenue 3 that serves authentic yet affordable Thai food and is becoming a sleeper hit among residents in the area.

Nakhon Kitchen started business in early January and long queues are forming over dinner time and during the weekend.

The dishes are quite affordable with the more popular dishes like the Tom Yam soup cost around SGD6. Most Thai restaurants would charge double.

Also there is no GST or service charge and this place offer ice cold plain water.

I usually go the clear Tom Yum seafood but today decided to have a taste of the coconut milk Tom Yam.

The coconut milk used isn’t too strong so you still can linger on the taste of the lemongrass which is classic Tom Yum.

When you put a spoonful in your mouth, your taste buds will immediately feel the two different and distinct flavour of lemongrass and coconut.

The seafood option serves with two medium prawns plus a few cuttlefish and fish bits.

The next dish we tried was the Thai garlic fried chicken. Unfortunately, this was quite a disappointment as we couldn’t taste garlic as described by the name of the dish.

Still the chicken was well cooked and the bite size chunks is also enough to fill you for a meal.

Pineapple rice is a popular dish among the customers. It looks good for 2 but with the other dishes, 1 would do.

My recommendation is to use this dish as a main course to your rice rather as the rice itself. Mix it with white rice and you get a good meal out of this dish.

This is Thai style Kang Kong which is little on the belachan as compared to Singapore style samble belachan Kang Kong.

Looks oily, but there was no tinge of oil felt when we ate it though.

Don’t forget the condiments. The sambal balachan is a blast and a good mix with your dish and rice.

The cost of the dishes above? Only SGD24 without GST or service charge! White rice is at SGD1 a plate.

I would give the place a 4 plates of rice out of 5 and with the dishes served, I won’t be surprised if you down four plates of rice too.

20 Interesting Shots of Abandoned Toys

From the thephotoargus.com

Christmas time is over and all the good little girls and boys have there shiny new toys to play with.

What happens to the toys that become abandoned.

No they don’t go to the island of the misfit toys. Instead they go to the local dump, abandoned houses, and other unpleasant places.

Below is a collection of sad and a bit creepy photos depicting abandoned toys. This is also a great example of unique and interesting subject matter one can shoot if you use your creativity.

Quasimondo

Urban Chill

More abandoned toys photos can be found here.

Tattoo show back in Singapore

The organisers for the Singapore Tattoo Show 2010 held a press conference today at Zouk Velvet Underground to introduce the celebrity tattoo artists to the local media.

(From left: Kim Saigh - Cherry Bomb Tattoo owner and star of TV series L.A. Ink, Chris Garver - needs no introduction, Bob Tyrrell - L.A. Ink and London Ink and Kirby Lian - brainchild of Singapore Tattoo Show.)

The organisers hopes that the 3-day event, held 8^th to 10^th January 2010 in Hall 6B of the Singapore Expo hopes to advocates the act of responsible tattooing and to educate the public about tattoo as a form of body art appreciation and culture.

 (From right – Jeremy - traditional hand tattoo artist from Borneo and Matt Booth – founder of Room 101,)

The show is set to feature a stellar lineup of an industry experts including star tattoo celebrities such as Kim Saigh (L.A. Ink/ High Voltage Tattoos, USA) and Tim Hendricks (Guest Artist in Miami Ink/ Gold Rush Tattoo, USA) who will be in Singapore for the first time, as well as returning guests Chris Garver (Miami Ink/ Love Hate Tattoo Studio, USA) and Bob Tyrrell (Night Gallery, USA). Other notable guests include industry icons from countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, China and Taiwan.

Kim Saigh showing off her favourite tattoo to the media

Kim Saigh is the Singapore Tattoo Show 2010’s new ambassador.

Kim’s tattoo career began the day she received her first tattoo at the age of 16. She remembers wanting to take the machine out of the guy's hand and do it herself, and ended up backseat driving the tattoo. Two years later, her dream of holding the machine became a reality when she was offered an apprenticeship based on a drawing for a friend's tattoo.

Kim opened Cherry Bomb Tattoo after several years, and went on the star in reality TV series L.A. Ink. She is now a well-respected artist in the tattoo trade which she has been part of for 16 years.

Despite being a self-confessed metal head, Kim cultivated a deep passion for yoga over the years, and has even called it her ‘saving grace’.

Daniel Browning Smith (aka Rubber Boy) was one of the highlights of the press conference with his body twisting tricks entertaining the media.

Rubber Boy  has been titled the most flexible man alive. He has three Guinness World Records for his flexibility. While most contortionists are generally trained to bend in one direction, Rubber boy has trained extensively to bend in all directions. He can bend so far backwards that he can kiss his own butt!

His other claims to fame include dislocating his arms to crawl through an unstrung tennis racket, as well as performing contortion handstands and unique acrobatics. He can even cram his body in to a box 13.5 x 16 x 19.5 inches!

Rubber Boy combines all his special skills to put on an amazing and hilarious show. The Singapore Tat2 Show 2010 will be Rubber Boy’s first Show in Singapore, and he is looking forward to performing for local media and show-goers.

For more information on the Singapore Tat2 2010 Show, please visit http://tattoo.com.sg/ or join in the conversation with daily updates and worldwide Tattoo industry news & chatter on facebook – http://facebook.com/TattooPride.

Putrajaya Random Shots

Putrajaya is in the state of Selangor and is the federal administration center of Malaysia.

The place is also known for the building and bridges which are common venues for photo shoots.

Here are some selected shots taken (with my relatives-in-laws) there.

  

A Unique Taste Of Malaysia

(Photo: A different Martabak across the Causeway)

I am in Malaysia, KL, taking a week off before the New Year starts. On Christmas Day, I went out with my in-laws relatives to Putrajaya – The Government Capital of Malaysia to do some fun photo shoot and we came across a pasar malam

A Pasar Malam is a make shift market place that takes place on an occasional basis. You can find food stalls, vegetable stalls and others.

The food stalls were the main attraction of these pasar malams and they show you the unique Malaysia delicacies in full colour and smell.

The photo above is a shot of Martabaks in the making. Martabak is made of dough marinated in ghee with filled with stuffing made of vegetable or meat. The one above was soaked in thick egg yolk with a nice serving of vegetable mix.

And the best thing was it only cost RM2 per piece which is about SGD0.80. Most Martabak in Singapore comes with meat filling and they cost about SGD3.00 to SGD5.00 per piece.

(The making of Martabak..)

Colours to brighten up your food day..

Add a little dash of colours..

Balance it out with some dull colours

 

Give it a good mix…

A good mix..

VIola.. a bowlful of Boh Boh Cha Cha

History lesson from a photo

Above is a photo taken in the early 1900s.

My grandfather Yeo Tiang Hoon is sitting on the left and on this right is his brother, Yeo Tiang Hock. The man in the center is their father, Yeo Eng Kiat who passed away in 1972 at a age of 77.

Mr Yeo Tiang Hock was one of the victims of the round out of the local Chinese population during the Japanese Occupation of Singapore. According to my grandmother, Mr Yeo Tiang Hock was shot after being rounded up by the Japanese but that saved his uncle’s life as he (Mr Yeo Tiang Hock)  was standing in front of him. The Japanese soldiers took away the bodies but never came back his uncle.
 
My grandfather Yeo Tiang Hoon celebrates his 87th birthday on 16 December 2009.

Chinese (Yong Tau Foo) or Western (NZ Ribeye Beef Steak)?

Lunch time is coming up. Have you decided what you going to have for lunch?

Yong Tau Foo is a Singapore favourite, light on both the stomach and wallet.It is like a potluck of sorts. You pick and choose of various variety, vegetables with fish paste squeezed into them or just plain vegetables. The next selection is whether you want it to served in a soup broth or dry. You round the dish off with a choice of Asian staples of rice or noodles.

At $0.30-$0.50 per piece and most stalls requesting that you order a minimum of SGD2.00 per serving, it is indeed light on your wallet.


Or maybe you might want to treat yourself to what we call "Western Food". We call it "western" because the dish do not include any of the Asian staples like rice or noodles. Usually, it comes with just a piece of meat or fish. "Western Food" is more expensive than your local dish.

A serving of NZ Ribeye Beef Steak like the one above would set you aside by SG12. That's like 6 times the cost of your Yong Tau Foo serving. Cheap compared to restaurant/cafe pricing which can go up as as $50 excluding 7% GST and 10% service charge.

Some stalls save on the greens, but this stall I had my beef steak serve with an abundance of broccoli. The sauce is nice, but it leaves you quite thirsty after the meal. Guess it is the amount of MSG that they might have used to create it.

So what are you having for lunch?

What can SGD1 get you today?

Look at your dollar coin. Have you wondered what SGD1 can get you today?

It is enough buy you The Sunday Times on a Sunday. Enough in the classifieds hopefully to get you a new job, car, house?

Same say it can bring you hope. SGD1 in 4D or Toto can give you a chance to thousands to millions.

Unfortunately the chance of you winning is not whether you buy or not, it only buys you a chance in a million.
SGD1 can get you three packs of tissue from the uncles and aunties who ply the hawker centers. However, it is difficult to part with SGD1 because we wonder why we need 3 packs of tissues at the hawker center.

Actually, these uncles and aunties should just sell one pack for 50 cents to those who have nothing to “chope” their seats during office lunch hour.

SGD1 can get you your daily caffeine fix. It depends on whether you put milk or sugar or none at all. A “kosong” (means empty in Malay) is black coffee without the works and that cost about SGD0.70 depends on where you are. The full works plus ice may go beyond the dollar.

So what can SGD1 get you today?

Coffee Addiction

I admit I am a caffeine addict. There is no doubt that I can’t stay awake without my morning cup of coffee each day.

My wife says it is almost as addictive as cigarettes. However, coffee is still cheaper, much cheaper, than cigarettes. Plus I don’t smoke.

A day without coffee can be quite a torture especially towards mid afternoon.

What type of coffee do I drink? Usually it is with milk without sugar. Hey, if you want to taste pure coffee, it should be all black right? Reducing sugar intake is also good too as to reduce diabetes.

When at home or at office, Nescafe Gold is just fine with me. Though, I do prefer International Roast at times.

Outside, the coffee from the Kopitiam would do. Once in awhile, it might be a Starbucks or CoffeeBean. However, coffee from the Kopitiam is about SGD1 while that at the gourmet coffee cafes sells for SGD3.50 for a regular cup. That’s like 3 cups of coffee at the Kopitiam.

I have seem to go back old school at the Kopitiam. Instead of asking for the normal styrofoam cup, I asked for the kopitiam to give it to me in a used tin can, usually comes from storing the evaporated or condensed milk. It just taste different coming from the tin can rather than the styrofoam cup. One Kopitiam owner also said that the tin can is more stable than the styrofoam cup and it is a bit more difficult to knock down the tin can given the heavier base.

There is so much you can talk about coffee. Yes, I do agree with my wife that too much is also not a good thing either.