I'm a Japanese Food Fan and you can't stop me!

It's been a long while since I blogged about my days. So what's coming up is a series of short posts for the past week all blogged in one day. It's basically 3 Japanese eateries in 3 weeks~


7th August, Kuriya:

A few of us met up for dinner at Raffles City and headed down to Kuriya cos Val was craving for some japanese charcoal BBQ food (we din get any of that sort though...)

But we did manage to get a sumptous dinner! Drool on ahead~



Sushi Moriawase.


Fried Pork Belly with Spring Onion and Radish (Yummy!)


Part of my Yasai Tempura Soba


Most popular dish that night, Kamo Seiro Soba (Chilled Soba with Duck Broth)


Grabbed some dessert at Aerin's, with a wonderful view.


15th August, Shimbashi Soba:

Had dinner with Agnes and her friends after work and decided to introduce them to Shimbashi Soba, basement 1, Paragon. Friday night's the usual and we had to wait for abotu 15-20 mins before getting seats but it was all worth it (according to them)!


Chikara Soba (soba with vegetables and rice cakes)


Paragon Soba (Hot and Chilled Soba)


Sansai Soba (Wild Vegetables and Mushrooms Soba)



My Tokusen Wazen (5 side dishes + Soba)

From top left clockwise: Salmon and Swordfish Sashimi, Fried Salmon with Agedashi Tofu, Grilled Mackarel with Egg Omelette, Assorted Tempura

There was a side dish of 2 maki and 1 beancurd skin Sushi but couldn't take a pic of them all. This meal set me back by 40 bucks! O.0


Teriyaki Chicken Don and Soba. The teriyaki chicken looked so delicious...

14th August, MOF @ My Izakaya:

Had a team dinner at MOF @ Marina Square and it's my 3rd time back to this place. I usually go there for desserts only cos they look good and taste good, but my first for trying their main dishes, which didn't disappoint me...


My Tan-tan Ramen! (The spicy sesame soup was absolutely fantastic and had me finishing up the whole bowl!)


Bz's Sesame Zenzai Dessert. Black Sesame Gelato with Read Bean paste and mochi.


Anika's Fruity Sundae (forgot the name...)


My Macha Imo (Vanilla Soft serve with Fried Hokkaido sweet potato in centre) and 1 dollop of Black Sesame Gelato. =)

22nd August, MOF again

Had a last-minute-decided dinner with Shilei after work on Friday and found ourselves at MOF again but at the Bugis Junction branch this time. Nicer decor and ambience (it's newer actually)


Salmon Cutlet Maki (must try!)


Yasai Tempura Udon with Salmon Cutlet Maki making a cameo in the background.


Shilei's Tonkotsu Ramen


Black Sesame Gelato Sundae


Mmm!


Me with my Mango Imo (The Macha Imo still tastes better!)

Next week planning a trip to Miharu Ramen once more!

Mummy!

It's a habit now, the 4 of us (Law, GY, Ivan and me) catching a movie together over the weekend in town. Hah~

This time we chose the Mummy cos there weren't any other shows that we were interested in anyway. We had dinner at this noodle place at the basement of the Cathay. Forgot what's the name but the noodles and the sliced pork with buns were simply delicious! Gotta go back some day and eat again.

Before the show, I stopped by the adidas store to take a look at some watches there and there was one that caught my eye! At 115 and it looked really nice.... But thinking about my HK trip in Sep soon... =(

Finally caught the show at about 10 and 5th row from the front at the Grand Cathay isn't that bad. Show's typical, easily amused, easily forgettable... Dun think i'll be catching the next installment if there's any... Ha!

Why So Serious?

It's finally here! And I went to watch with my usual kakis (GY, Law, Ivan) at the usual place (PS) last Saturday. The show is a bit long but it was quite entertaining.

The story's dark as Batman examines himself and finds the will to carry on fighting evil as the Dark Knight. The show also introduces another villain into the future story but I shan't spoil it here. Fans will definitely know who Harvey Dent is...

But the one that truly shines here is the Joker... Played by the late Heath Ledger, he brings the character very much into life. If he creeps you out in the show, he's done the job good. Can't wait for the next instalment of the show! The Dark Knight (only show with no "Batman" in the title) gets 4 stars out of 5 from me!

Feeling like a wreck...

Went to see the doctor this morning cos I wasn't able to recover in time... Hoping that there won't be a long queue at the clinic but then again, it's Monday morning.

2 mothers with their entourage of 5 children in total were making hella of noise in there. The mothers were talking really loudly about their children's tuition and stuff like that as if it was at the market and the children were screaming and jumping even though they were supposed to be ill...

3 of the children were particularly spoilt and whiny who went "Mi.... (mother)" whenever they get into a fight or quarrel and were running around, disturbing the other patients. Glares from other patients at the clinic didn't help. And all that the mom could do was to keep on reading her magazine and throw out a few words like "stop playing", "keep quiet" and the children would talk back at her and carry on clamouring...

During my time, I would have received a tight slap or a beating from my parents for behaving like that in public. Children these days...

Finally got to see the doc after 45 mins and i'm still on MC for today and tomorrow.. Feeling aching all over. On and off fever... Dry throat... Restlessness.. Lethargy.. It's almost like a living hell....

=(

Call me a****** one more time...

This post came very late as I caught the movie with GY, Law and Ivan last Sunday. Managed to get tickets real late on Sunday at Marina Square. Had dinner at Kyo-nichi Ramen which was shiok~ It's my number 7 on my list. Hah~ No pictures though, too hungry to take any.

And before the movie, we were wandering around the cinema (waiting for GY) and I chanced upon a figurine shop which I've never entered in before and I got this!

Suspicious look and shocked! look

L Nendroid! Comes with 2 bodies (squatting or standing) and 4 faces! With Leather armchair as well! Sold out at most places I've been to and I'm lucky to have found it~

Movies's not too bad. Average but mildly entertaining. Doesn't actually live up to the hype and the ending was abit crappy. But nonetheless, something decent to catch these days.

Anyway, I've been real sick these past few days and had to stay in the office cos my other colleague was out with stomach flu as well (Hope you're better already!) and the fact that I'm blogging right now at 11:44am is that I'm on medical leave and had a good night's rest last night!

Hopefully I've recovered in time over the weekend and back at work next Monday!

On another note, I had dinner on Tuesday with a new friend of mine whom I've met at the Japanese meetup. Ramen lovers, both of us. We went to Central to tuck into a bowl of Aka-Ramen at Marutama Ramen! My number 3! Not bad as a Ramen fix for me. I have to have ramen at least once a week somewhere, you see... After that we had some Hokkaido Ice cream from Azabu Sabo to round up the dinner. Strange new flavours I sampled were tofu and pumpkin! Tofu tasted... like tofu and pumpkin was amazingly sweet~

Off to rest now and catch you all soon!

Get Wanted!

Once again, 2 shows in one weekend. *Looks at smothering hole in wallet* But it was worth it! 2 great shows, 1 is pure slapstick comedy, other is full of adrenalin and action!

Both shows are quite similar actually. Male lead is a cannot-make-it, bully-target, low-life guys. The gals on the other hand, are smart, clever and so so gorgeous. Va-va-voom~ Both shows showcase some very nifty gadgets, especially the one Angelina Jolie used in the supermarket. Think SAF is kinda using it now but not as skillful as her..

Unfortunately, i watched both shows during the late night so my viewing experience was really at the max. At times I was struggling to keep to the story / laugh at the jokes.

Brain: Hey, it's funny! Laugh!

Body: Can't... Too shag already...

But do catch these shows before they're gone!

On Sunday, I went to the Science Centre (not the Omnimax or Snow City) with Princess. She happened to have 3 tickets with her and her bro and sis weren't interested. She asked me at like 2pm and we were there at 4. Hah~

It's been a while since I went to the Science Centre itself. And it was nice for Princess to show me around. She worked there before at the shop. So cool right?

Dinosaurs were the main exhibit and we spent some time taking photos of them. LOL~

Look Ma! No Body!

*ROAR*

Princess with some Brontosaurus lookalike...

Shall we eat her?

Me and Princess~

We went to a water exhibit which was quite interesting and had dinner at the Mac there as well. Had a nice chat over dinner as well. =)

But anyway, thanks to Princess for the tickets! Wish every weekend was like that~

Hokkaido, here I come!

Woo-Hoo! It's official! I won 3rd prize in a lucky draw from Leisure Park Kallang and it's a trip for 2 to Hokkaido, Japan!

Happy: never won anything in lucky draw before!

Sad: Troubled over who to bring along for the trip.... Haiz....

On to the topic of Japan, met Ash for dinner yesterday evening and I brought her to eat my no. 3 ramen place in Singapore! Baikohken (梅光軒)!




Front of the shop


Char-Siew don! with Mayo! Mmmm.. Scrumptious!


Got this donkey for Ash to put in her car. Called it weiquan (my chinese name...)


weiquan in another pose...


weiquan after stuffing down a whole bowl of ramen and char-siew don...

Night cycling!

It's been a while since I went to East Coast Park to cycle and I just came back from a 20km night cycling activity organised by my bank's Recreation Club!

The 35 of us broke up into 2 groups and I started off in the 1st. We travelled via Siglap Park connector all the way to Bedok Reservoir Park, had a short break, went on to Bedok Food Centre for supper but the famous Cheng Tng stall was closed! -_-

Then headed back to ECP via Bedok Park connector. Even passed by Bedok Camp~ All in all, we took about 4 hours (including stops and rests) The only thing that bothered me was that we had to get off our bikes quite often to push along the overhead bridge and had to carry the bikes for some of the stairs as well. In fact, the only thing that's hurting right now are not my feet and butt (from the sitting) but my arms instead! Hah~

The whole activity went on smoothly with no accidents! And I also got to know a few more people in the bank, those I worked with b4 (but never met them) and other new colleagues as well.

Kudos to the organisers, Terra Outdoors for having humorous and fun instructors to guide us along the way. And to the Rec Club as well, for organising and looking forward to the next activity! Cheers!




My trusty bike for the next 4 hours...


Me on da bike~


Stopover at Bedok Reservoir Park~


My bike (foreground) and Kogi's (background)

The Happening Panda!

That's what you get when you cross Kungfu Panda and The Happening!

Caught both shows over the weekend and there's a great constrast in both movies. Kungfu Panda was great, entertaining and funny! The Happening, on the other hadn, i think M Night Shyamalan has lost the plot....

In summary, Kungfu Panda's about a panda who dares to dream and fulfills it, fights off a powerful foe and saves the village in swashbuckling panda fashion!

The Happening's about a biology teacher (an emotionless Mark Wahlberg) trying to escape from the wrath of plants! *gasp* Plants can release some toxins to make humans commit suicide. Quite a dark plot but it was kinda interesting to see how people kill themselves. Not that I revel in the blood and gore though...

Panda's worth watching at the movies with young or old, and the Happening's a total waste of time. If you really want to catch it, get the DVD (or VCD) then....

Cheers~

Swish! *Crack!*

Yeah~ Caught Indy Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (that's quite a mouthful!) on its opening day (last sunday) in singapore!

My blardy sis tried to ruin it for me by almost giving away spoilers. *ROAR* Luckily she didn't if not....

Lotsa hype about the show,mostly wanting to see how an old geezer can survive an action show like this.. Come to think about it, it's like the revival of the 80's Action Heroes! Bruce Willis in Die Hard 4.0, Rambo, Indy Jones....

The pace of the story was ok but it was quite interesting to see Indy Jones giving pointers about the kid (Shia Lebouf) about treasure hunting~ And how Indy Jones call the kid Junior like how his dad (Sean Connery) called him in the previous Indy shows.

All was fine except for the ending which was duh............. Anyway, for folks out there who want to catch the show, might as well get the DVD instead. If can rent, better... Haha~

I should start a movie rating system soon (popcorn baskets?)! LOL

YCK Reunion

We had our reunion event at YCK Gardens MINDS School yesterday as the school is moving to its new premises at Sengkang next week.. So it's kinda like the last chance to see the school as it is right now before it's torn down or redeveloped...

Haven't really come down to YCK lately so thought I'll lend a hand to set up this event by invitation from xian²~ I was tasked with setting up of the games for the event but ended up becoming co-event manager together with Roland and Shaoqiang. Had to stand in as DJ as well for Weihao / Yiliang at times as well. Quite tiring but fun actually!

So we had a carnival (complete with 8 stalls for the trainees to have some fun), an angklong performance by the students from xian²'s school, a video presentation made by Yiliang, a sumptous feast and a group photo taking session!

It was also a good time to catch up with the senior volunteers who took time off to grace the event as well.

At the end of it all, I was too winded up that I left while they were clearing up the resource room and couldn't join them for dinner. Sorry guys!

Album's up and you can click on the thumbnail below for the link~

by janzer81

Also, my thanks go out to the people listed below in no particular order of merit:

xian²:
For planning out the entire event and buying all the goody bags for the trainees~

Roland:
For working together to keep the event going and possibly missing out on the event itself at times

Shaoqiang:
For helping me for the tougher manual stuff for the events as I was not feeling too well that day.

My gamemasters:
For volunteering as gamemasters on a last minute notice for some. You guys did a great job! :D

Lil' Sis Ash:
For helping with setting up some of the stalls and bringing me food when I was too busy to tuck in. Also for letting me fool around with your dad's DSLR. Hah~

Samuel and Jiurong (PD and VPD):
Kudos to you too for helping to run the show with gusto (that's you, Samuel) and cool effiency (that's you, JR)

Volunteers:
For taking time off your bz schedules to come down for the event. It was a surprise for me to see that many volunteers in one session

Parents:
Your continual support for YCK MINDS has been a great inspiration for us! I was pretty touched and honoured that most of the parents still remember me and chatted with me for a while. :)

Trainees:
The very reason why this event was held and why we keep on volunteering.

Sad to say, the event was also considered as my last effort for YCK MINDS before the curtains fall for me. Might pop by for the occasional camp or session every now and then. Going to miss you guys....

Bless YCK,

Waraku (again)

Friday:

Went for my once-every-6-weeks (any short term for that length of time?) review at the National Skin Centre. To those out there who are clueless, I have this incurable skin problem since 15 and have been visiting the National Skin Centre for the past 12 years or so...

I don't dread the visits, cos there are the friendly staff who recognize you and call out to you, ask about you, joke with you as well. All that makes it somehow more bearable each time. During my visit a couple of days ago, I was greeted and chatted with from my arrival at the centre till the time I left. =)

After that, I met Agnes for dinner after she knocked off. She was one of the staff nurses I befriended at the centre and we hit it off pretty well from the start. Always hurling friendly insults at each other kinda helped... haha~

Headed down to Waraku @ Starhub Centre. First remark from her: "So ulu ah?" Me: -_-

It's her first time to Waraku actually (She went to the Pasta de Waraku, which I patiently explained to her that they serve different food) and we feasted on a pretty good dinner! Pics below~


Chawanmushi~


My Una-don! Oomph!


Her Hokkai Tororo (Cold soba with tuna, salmon, squid, minced yam and cod roe)

After that we went to shop around at Taka and Wisma Atria (Zara, Timberland for me) She was bewitched by this pink Titus Watch at City Chain! Should be getting it soon, i guess. *evil grin*

Maybe it's time for you to bring me to a place to eat next time, rather than me hor? :P

鼎泰丰

Met Ash for dinner at Din Tai Fung at J8 earlier today. DTF's my choice of la mian. Crystal Jade's for their side dishes and Imperial Treasure get the kudos for their xiao long bao. Yeah~ The "Holy Trinity"....

Some pics below of what we ate~ Forgot to take pic of Ash's Yam Paste Bun but here are the rest!

小菜 (Vegetables with vinegar dressing), one of my fav. appetizer~

红烧牛腩面 (Braised Beef Tendon Noodles)

小笼包 (Steamed Pork Dumplings!)

Ash only ate 3, leaving 7 of these babies but I could finish them luckily... She almost wanted me to try the yam paste bun... *burp*

After that we went to NTUC to shop for stuff and I learnt something new from her! That's the title of this post actually. Ever wondered what the bar code on the label means?

888811267003

The first 3 numbers (888) are for Singapore
The next 4 (8112) are for the factory code
The next 5 (67003) are for the product code
And the last (6)104 is a check digit, used for error detection.

If it's EAN (European Article Number), the check digit is derived like this.

1. Sum of all the even-positioned numbers (excluding the check digit itself) and multiply by 3
which means 8 + 8 + 1 + 6 + 0 + 3 = 26 X 3 = 78

2. Add the odd-positioned numbers to the result earlier.
which means 78 + 8 + 8 + 1 + 2 + 7 + 0 = 104

3. Take 10 and minus the last digit (if last digit is 0, take the next number on the left) to get the check digit
which means 10 - 4 = 6!

Click here for a link to Wiki on check digit!

The last alphabet in our NRIC number is also like a check digit. Click here to find out more!
By the way, Ash only taught me about the barcode. I found out about the check digit online~ Hah!