Sauteed mushrooms

Sauteed mushrooms (serves 1 to 2)

I did this randomly and it turned out quite good.

Ingredients:

1 box of white mushrooms, around 300g, sliced
2 stalks of spring onion, chopped into fine bits, leaving around 5cm unchopped from the bottom
0.5 cup of white wine
3 cloves of garlic, chopped into fine bits
2 teaspoons of butter
Salt

Instructions:

1) Melt the butter in a skillet, then put the garlic.
2) When the garlic starts to turn brown, add the mushrooms and stir.
3) Once the mushrooms become tender, pour the white wine in.
4) Add the spring onion in and stir it for a short while more, then serve.

Chinese Slow-Cooked Chicken

Chinese slow-cooked chicken

Another recipe passed down from my mother. It can be prepared in advance, easy to do, and requires little ingredients. 

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken

10 slices of ginger

5 tablespoons of Chinese cooking wine

Salt

3 stalks of spring onion

3 tablespoons of sesame oil

Instructions:

1) Place the stalks of spring onion at the bottom of the slow-cooker, then put the chicken on top of it.

2) Throw the ginger slices in.

3) Mix the Chinese wine and 2 teaspoons of salt, then pour the mixture in.

4) Add the sesame oil in, followed by one cup of water.

5) Turn on the slow-cooker on high. After around 1.5 hours, add half more cup of water.

6) Chicken is ready after another 2 hours or so.

Simon Trpceski Plays Chopin (28 Jun 2013)

Venue: Esplanade Concert Hall

Conductor: Lan Shui

Pianist: Simon Trpceski

Programme: 

Sergei Rachmaninov - Introduction to Aleko

Sergei Rachmaninov - Men's Dance from Aleko

Sergei Rachmaninov - Prince Rostislav, Symphonic Poem for Orchestra

Frederic Chopin - Piano Concerto No.1 in E minor, Op.11

The highlight of the concert was Chopin's Piano Concerto No.1 in E minor, performed by Macedonian pianist Simon Trpceski (Macedonia is a country in Southeast Europe). 

The concerto did not start off well. The heavy and bleak starting notes was not accentuated sufficiently by the orchestra, and the tempo was also a bit too fast; not enough emphasis was placed and the orchestra just seemed to rush through it. Fortunately, Trpceski's playing saved the day. He was obviously an experienced pianist from the way he carried himself - he was entirely at ease and enjoying himself. He placed more emphasis on the dynamics of the concerto, and he expressed this through his body too. One amusing thing I noticed was that after every cadenza, Trpceski would turn around to look at the orchestra, as if asking them, "Did you hear that?" and "Is everything fine?"

His body movements were most apparent in the third movement of the concerto, Rondo (Vivace). Based on a traditional Polish dance, a Krakowiak, Trpceski looked, at times, almost like he was dancing as well, clearly delighted in the exuberance of the piece. (The Krakowiak was supposed to mimic the movement of horses.)

Overall, the concerto was quite enjoyable despite being dampened somewhat by the orchestra, whose accompaniment did not match up to Trpceski's playing.

Man of Steel

Henry Cavill as Superman in Man of Steel. Source: forbes.com 

Having watched quite a few Superman movies [ Superman (1978), Superman II (1981), Superman III (1983), Superman IV (1987), Superman Returns (2006) ], I had my reservations in watching this, since the last few were rather disappointing. (I even survived ten seasons of Smallville, by the way.)

My gut reaction to Henry Cavill donning Superman's cape was one of doubt. He just doesn't look like  Superman. Of course, Christopher Reeve was the best there could ever be, but at least Brandon Routh in Superman Returns still looked as if he fit the role well... never mind the plot, of course.

Brandon Routh in Superman Returns. Source: www.g4tv.com

Henry Cavill's costume has undergone a significant change from his predecessors. While everyone has been talking about the removal of his trademark red briefs, I think the bigger change is on the colours. Cavill's costume is now much darker, an indication of how the character and movie will turn out. Superman here is much more troubled and brooding than the previous Supermen, and being conflicted by his desire to help others and the need to keep his powers secret, he sets out on a journey to discover his true heritage.

The opening scene was perhaps a bit long, but nevertheless necessary to give the movie some backing (and perhaps to explain to people who are unfamiliar with Superman's background). We are then brought to some scenes of his childhood, where the movie explains how he got his powers of X-ray vision, super hearing, and heat vision. And of course, on how his parents have managed to instil a rock-solid sense of morality and ethics into their adopted son. Lois Lane then comes into the picture, and accidentally leads General Zod to Earth.

That's around half the movie gone. The other half revolves just around mindless action. The battles between the aliens with super strength involved punches which sent each other hurtling kilometres away and smashing through several buildings in succession, which reminded me very strongly of Dragonball. But despite taking so many hits, Superman didn't look the slightest bit injured. And one amusing observation was that although their battles took place in the sky (and everywhere else), they were always in firm sight of Lois Lane and the rest. The final scene was also coincidentally where Lois Lane could reach in just a few minutes... hmm.

I am not sure if there will be a sequel. But the charming relationship between Clark and Lois - that of a bumbling and clumsy Clark having a crush on the aggressive and confident Lois, who loves Superman while not knowing that Clark is actually Superman - is definitely impossible now, since the whole world seems to know who Superman is. And come on, his disguise is pathetic. Christopher Reeve and Brandon Routh are able to pull off the stunt of putting on a pair of big plastic spectacles and transforming into Clark Kent, but Henry Cavill in spectacles just looked like, well, Superman in spectacles.

Man of Steel was a good effort at rebooting the Superman franchise. But to me, Christopher Reeve will always be the true Superman.

Cream of leek and potato soup

Cream of leek and potato soup (serves 6 to 8)

This is not too difficult and can be prepared in advance.

Cream of leek and potato soup

Ingredients:

2 large leeks (preferably Australian), around 400g
450g baby potatoes, peeled and cut into small cubes
1.5 litres chicken stock
150ml sour cream
Salt
Black pepper
Spring onion for garnishing


Instructions:

1) Make a slit along each leek, length-wise. Rinse well, then slice thinly.
2) Pour the chicken stock into a pot, then add the potatoes in. Boil it, then let it simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.
3) Add in the leeks, season with a bit of salt and pepper, and let it simmer for another 10 to 15 minutes.
4) Let the mixture cool a bit, then blend it.
5) Heat up the mixture again. Add the cream in and stir it.
6) Serve with some spring onion and a bit of sour cream.

GRUB @ Bishan Park

GRUB opened its doors only recently, and I have heard how long the queues are during mealtimes. My gf and I visited GRUB for breakfast only because my Canopy discount card was missing (forgot who I lent it to). We reached there shortly after 9am and still managed to get a seat indoors.

Truffled egg cocotte, $7

Two soft boiled eggs, with bacon bits, spring onion, and some truffle oil. And focaccia bread for dipping. The eggs were done quite well, and the saltiness of the bacon means that no dark soy sauce is required. 

While this didn't cost much in absolute terms, when it comes to soft boiled eggs, I would still prefer our local version with dark soy sauce and pepper. And the small portion means that this is almost certainly not enough for most people. Which was why we ended up ordering another cheeseburger to share.

GRUB Breakfast Set, $15

Their "big breakfast" set, which comes with tomato chutney, garlic pork sausage (can also opt for beef), mushroom, salad, scrambled eggs, and focaccia bread. I found the scrambled eggs unsatisfactory; it was dry and not fluffy at all. In fact, I think the tomato chutney was the best in this plate.

GRUB Cheeseburger, $11

The fries impressed me more than the burger, whose beef patty was a bit tough and lacking of beef flavour. 

To sum up, I like GRUB's design and ambience more than its food. There is something about it being a lone building located amongst the greenery of Bishan Park. Average-only food, reasonable prices, but portions on the small side. They welcome dogs too, so this is another place for dog owners.

Hippopotamus @ Marina Square

I have passed by Hippopotamus several times and made a note to myself to visit it some day, and the day came when I saw it on the Palate program. Visited here for dinner on a weekday.

French onion soup, $8.90

Normal french onion soup. Nothing special, but nothing really wrong with it either.

Fried calamari, $3

This was a promotional item. At $3, it would appear to be a real steal. But don't order it. The calamari was not fresh and tasted a bit fishy and odd.

Classic ribeye, 220g, $24.90

Their menus had two different categories of steaks - the premium and the normal ones. I ordered the normal one. It is probably NZ beef, which is cheaper (and less tasty). I found the beef lacking in beef flavour. And I asked for it to be done medium rare... but it came out closer to rare.

This isn't medium rare.

Hippo Bacon Burger, $17.90

We decided to "diversify" our orders and not focus on steaks only. So we chose one of their burgers. This was so-so only too. But the sides that we selected were quite a let-down. The potato gratin was practically tasteless and we discarded more than half of it, while the ratatouille was also too bland.

After I asked for the bill, I noticed that the shop name written on the bill was "Swensen's". So they are both under the same holding company, ABR Holdings Limited! Interesting.

Tonkotsu King Four Seasons @ Bugis Village

Ramen Keisuke Tonkotsu King Four Seasons (what a mouthful!) is the newest ramen outlet opened by Keisuke Takeda, on top of the existing Tonkotsu King, Tori King, and Ramen Keisuke Dining. Each one features a unique theme, and as the name suggests, the theme of this outlet is the four seasons. Even the interior of the restaurant had been designed to fit the theme; my friend and I passed through all four seasons as we walked through. In order, it was spring, summer, autumn, and finally winter. We sat at the winter section.

Winter section

It was certainly comforting to see the usual free-flow bean sprouts and hard boiled eggs on the table! Being a big fan of bean sprouts, I never had to worry about not having enough food at any of the Keisuke outlets. Because whatever empty space in my stomach could always be filled with bean sprouts.

As I came here with only one friend, we only managed to try two seasons - autumn and summer.

Autumn ramen with egg, $14.90

Autumn ramen comes with a mixture of three different types of mushrooms - eringi, shimeiji, and shiitake - and these were stir-fried before blending into a fine paste along with some bonito. I took a sip of the soup first before mixing the paste in. It was quite thick and rich, but a little on the salty side. I actually thought it tasted like chicken broth, but the menu said the soup was tonkotsu... hmm. But I learned later that it was a mixture of chicken and pork bones.

After mixing, the resultant broth was one that was just right, as the mushrooms helped to neutralise a bit of the salty taste. This was delicious! And the soup wasn't too oily, maybe due to the presence of chicken broth in it. Compared to Menya Musashi's, I think this should be considerably less oily, also because I wrote "no oil" on my order sheet. 

The char siew was also excellent, much better than their other outlets. It was tender and juicy, and yet not too fat. I am not sure which part of the pig they used - I suspect it was the cheeks. I hope they still use this during my next visit.

Summer ramen with egg, $15.90

My friend ordered this, their Summer ramen. Although I love spicy food, I tend to avoid spicy ramen, as I think the spice spoils the natural flavour of the soup. The soup base is the same, except that they added a special powdered mixture that consists of cayenne pepper, Szechuan pepper, and ground pork. I think there was some miso too, but I wasn't too sure. It wasn't as spicy as it looks though. I still prefer the Autumn bowl over this.

Other than Autumn and Summer, they still have Spring (with basil and parmesan cheese), Winter (plain tonkotsu broth), and King (topped with ginger stir-fried pork). I wonder what I will try next?

Where's my car emblem

My mother and I had just parked our car at Serene Centre this morning when I noticed something odd about our car emblem. My first thought was, "is there a sticker over the car emblem?"

Then I took a closer look and started cursing. Some fucker had ripped it off.

We had no idea when or where the incident happened. It could be yesterday, when my younger brother parked at the Pasir Ris jetty car park meant for army personnel. Or the day before, when my mother parked at a public car park in Bishan. 

The irony is that today the Straits Times reported that "Two charged with tearing emblems from cars". It mentioned that the two were each charged with 15 counts of mischief after they allegedly removed the car emblems from a condo and hotel carpark. Their targets were BMW, Mercedes, Volkswagen, and Fiat.

Maybe it's time I install a video camera in the car. Or better still, run an electric current over the replacement emblem so that anyone touching it will get a nasty electric shock. 

Clearing emails

After neglecting to archive and arrange my office mail box for around three years, I decided that I had better do so before it gets even worse. This was also partially triggered by some additional job responsibilities I got this week, which I really need to be very organised in. So I brought my laptop back over the weekend, something which I haven't done in the past few months. 

Number of emails on my mailbox = 11,785. I spent two hours last night on it and only cleared around 1,300. And these are the straightforward ones - mostly deleted instead of archiving.

I am so screwed. 10,456 more to go.

Update as of 2nd June 2013, 1129pm:

After spending practically the whole weekend (from Friday night till Sunday night), I am finally down to 2,189. I swear that I will tidy up my emails regularly from now on.