Nihongo Kurasu Banzai!

Since my sensei went overseas this week, our class took the opportunity to have dinner together and as you could guess, a Japanese restaurant. Waraku @ Starhub centre was the place and 5 out of 9 of us could make it. Too bad for the other 4! :P

Some choice pics and the link to the rest of the album below~ Enjoy!



Sashimi Sanshuumori


Au-san and his Salmon and Ikura Cream Noodle


Cha-Shu Ramen. No prizes for guessing who ate this. ;)


Pui Chin-san's Chige Ramen


Dessert!


by janzer81

Kuriya~

This post is also quite late, considering I went to Kuriya on tuesday.. Have this bad habit on updating my blog late these days... Oops.. But better late than never!

Supposed to meet wh, ash and ml for dinner on tuesday but wh was still down with fever and then there were 3. We met at Raffles City for dinner and something phenomenonal happened. I met 7 friends there in the space of 40 mins while waiting for ash and ml to come. :O

When ash and ml came, we were off to Kuriya at basement 1. Kuriya means kitchen in Japanese actually. It's been a long time since I went to Kuriya cos

1. hardly go to raffles city nowadays.
2. Kuriya is damn expensive.
3. Usually would go for my favourite ramen shops rather than a Japanese restuarant. ;)

We were settled down quickly and spent quite a long time checking out the place before deciding what to have for dinner. Nice posh interior with somehow not-so-bright lighting. When we entered, we were greeted by a collection of fresh fish which we could choose to have half grilled and half in sashimi.Tempted to try but it was a tad too expensive. Note to self: Shall try it next time. I decided on the Sansai Tempura Soba set which contained chilled soba noodles with some vegetable tempura on the side. ash ordered Sansai Soba that contained oh-so-juicy looking mushroom and I heard the soup was great from both ash and ml! ml ordered the tempura soba seiro with prawn tempura on top of the vegetable tempura.


Other stuff we ordered were the Soba Tea (tea made from buckwheat leaves, which tasted quite refreshing), assorted tempura = salmon, tuna (yes!), swordfish, soft shell crab handroll for ml, and icecream for dessert. Total damage: $140 out of which 60 bucks are mine! hah~


Enough with words. Let the pictures do the talking~



Ash's Sansai Soba (chockful with mushrooms!)



My Sansai Tempura Soba


Zoom in on my tempura. :)


ml's tempura


Salmon, Swordfish, Tuna
Look at the thickness of the slices!

We're off to Ma Maison for next dinner! ;)

Tioman~

This post is actually a week late... I went for Tioman last week and only uploaded the photos onto Facebook and actually forgot to blog it down till some kind souls w/o facebook decided to remind me..

All was fun cept for the travelling part when we almost took 1 whole day to reach Tioman itself. zzz.. But thanks to Cuili for organising such a wonderful trip! :)

Choice pics and album below as well~ Enjoy~











ALBUM!

by janzer81

Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve

Woke up early today for one of the events organised by my bank's Recreation Club. Off to Sungei Buloh we go! I've only been there but it was a long time ago....

It looked to be a good day to visit the reserve. Sunny, not too hot and din look like it was going to rain like how these few days were....

First off, we were divided into 2 groups where we were brought around the mangrove area via a boardwalk route and we had a nice, chirpy guide to introduce to us the mangrove and wonders behind it. Rare chance for a city boy like me to see monitor lizards, tree climbing crabs, huge spiders, horseshoe crabs, a collared kingfisher up close, you know? :P

After that, we rested for lunch and carried on a treasure-hunt style activity where we had to explore the reserve to find answers to 27 questions. Good way to have you explore and admire the flora and fauna available in the mangrove habitat. It got a tad too hot later but didn't deter our trek at all~

In the end, my team (Me, Tun Naung, Mary (Tun Naung's girlfriend), Lu Xin, Xiaoting (Lu Xin's friend) won 4th price with a score of 24/27. Got a bundle of Toberone 1 by 1 chocs for that. Not bad eh?

Fortunately, after the last photo was taken outside the reserve, it began to pour! Lucky us~

Anyway, here are some choice pics and the link to the whole album below so enjoy~

Me, Tun Naung, Mary, Lu Xin and Xiaoting

Album!

by janzer81

Waraku + Santouka

Had dinner at Central twice this week. Once with Helen, Amy and Yihui at Wakaru! One of my favourite Japanese family restuarant which never fails to satisfy my gourmet tendencies each time. Ordered my favourite Rindo (Katsu don + Zaru Udon + Soba). =)

Yihui came later as she was stuck in office till about 8+ but still decided to join us nevertheless! We got a window seat fortunately and was able to enjoy the night view at Clarke Quay. Took some random pics below. Enjoy~

Helen's Ikura Don

Dorayaki Ice Cream Tempura

Helen and Amy

Yihui, me, Helen, Amy

The next day, I went to try Ramen Santouka on the 2nd floor of Central. It just opened this year and one of my frens had said that it's not bad! The ramen hails from Asahikawa, Hokkaido which I've been there before to try the Japan No. 1 Shio Ramen! So expectations were high, and hoping it could displace one of my top 10 ramen restaurants in Singapore..

I ordered a Miso ramen set with Cha Han (fried rice) and my colleague ordered a Shio Ramen with Ikura don (Salmon Roe) set. Plus some gyoza as well. +1 for the nice simple decor and another +1 for the pretty waitress who speaks very fluent Japanese. Think her name is Emily (reading katakana has never been my forte...) I only uploaded those pics which were clear enough as I used my phone to take those photos below. I think the reso's not too bad for a 3.2 MP camera, eh?

Verdict: The Komi-tamago (lava egg) was delicious, not too salty and leaving a sweet aftertaste in the mouth even after some time. The noodles were an utter disappointment. In contrast to the thick, springy noodles available around, the noodles were bland and very thin. Unable to soak up the wholesome goodness of the soup, it just pales in comparison. Luckily, the soup saves the day for the ramen. Miso had the right proportion of saltiness and the amount of oil added to the it was just nice. The soup from the Shio Ramen, didn't taste too salty as well. :) I would give it 6 out of 10 and might come back another day.

To those who want to try, they do not take reservations and only accepts cash so be prepared.

Entrance to Santouka (it's read from right to left by the way...)

Miso Ramen

Ikura Don

Eh, Mumbai dah!

Just learnt that this was the winner of Viewer's Choice 2007. Personally one of my favourites~

The Dark Knight!

Miharu!

Two words. Heavenly indulgence.

More below...

by janzer81

Turkish!

Having been once to Cafe Le Caire at Arab Street, I decided to bring my team there for dinner for one of our celebrations. =)

The food came faster than expected though the response was normal. But at least it's the company that counts?

Here's some of the pics below~


by janzer81

Thanks to Sonia and Tun Naung for the treat! =)

Sick again...

That's me with the "Victory Sign". Always able to detect where a camera is before it starts snapping. Heh~

Was able to make it for the Singapore Boardgames meetup at Settlers' cafe yesterday and it was quite fun for my first time there. Learnt a new game from Rynn called "Princes of Florence". Going to have to intro it to my buddies next time round. =) Thanks Rynn! For those interested to join, you can go to the link below to find out more....

http://boardgames.meetup.com/21/

Am down with a bad cough, been coughing so much till i can't sleep at night. Doc's said there's a cough bug around, so it would be good to set coughing people at your workplace on fire just to be safe (Just kidding!)

Doc gave me MC today and for tml. Probably staying in at home to recover sooner and to avoid spreading it to other people at the office as well....

Drinking lotsa H2O,

Janzer

Tiring but enjoyable weekend!

Went for my company's Recreation Club event at Science Centre and Snow City last Saturday and it was quite fun! Went to watch Mummies at the Omnimax (Soooo long since I last watched Omnimax!) The show was pretty ok, think the kids might find it boring... Then on to Snow City! where my colleagues and I had so much fun sliding down the slope~ Heh! Also I met Chen Xiuhuan at Snow City! V tall and still so beautiful even though she's in the same era as Zoey Tay, I think? Wanted to get a photo with her but gave up in the end cos she was too busy talking to her friends... Click on the photo below for the rest of the pics!

by janzer81

View of Indoor Stadium from LeisurePark Kallang

After that, I made my own way to LeisurePark Kallang. My favourite hobby shop, La Tendo shifted a couple of months back from Sunshine Plaza down at Middle Road to Kallang. Pretty ulu leh! Although Stadium MRT station is being built beside it right now, but now gotta travel by bus from Orchard to there. It was its' first birthday celebration and offered a 10 bucks voucher for all members to be used only for that weekend! Din play to buy anything until I was in for a surprise when I saw Tifa from FF7!

It was sold out the very first day it arrived in SG and i regretted not pre-ordering it earlier.... but lucky me managed to get the last copy cos some bugger ordered and din collect it for a month already. :P Haha! I also ordered Yuffie, Vincent and Red XIII (+ Cait Sith) for the next collection coming in June!

Super pleased with my steals for the day, went back home a happy man~ No programs that night, so stayed at home and rotted away, but also enjoyed a video call with one of my friends late at night. Apparently, video calls between M1 to M1 are free for 1st 5 minutes~

That was Saturday.

Sunday, morning woke up at 8 (v early on Sunday for the 1st time!!!!) and met up with my friend to bring her Japanese host family around Sentosa and Vivocity. Good weather in the morning but it had to rain in the afternoon and the evening... Pics below!

by janzer81


By the time, we left Sentosa, I had a v bad headache... but still met up with Rene and her friends for dinner at Ma Maison @ Central. Not a bad place with a good view of Clarke quay from the window. =) Had my fav. hamburger steak this time with the minced yam. Totally heavenly!

Had a bad headache today at work but Panadol fast relief saved the day but then felt super drowsy at work.... zzz

Off to sleep now to try to recover soon! Peace~

L

Caught this movie sometime ago last weekend but din blogged about it because I was tired / busy after work~

The decision to watch this show came late on Saturday as I was trying to get replies from GY, Law and Ivan about a couple of hours before the show starts at MARINA SQUARE. Cue panic, madness and 5 minute shower before rushing out of the house to make it almost in time for the show. Just for the sake of the show, I donned on a long white sleeved round neck tee, jeans and a dirty pair of sneakers to have the "L" look! Too bad my hair isn't as long as his~

The story in a nutshell is how he manages to solve a lot of "unsolved" cases and a last big case before he dies when he won Light in the 2nd movie. To fans, who did not watch manga / anime, Light didn't die after L did. It's the other way round. =) It's a spin off so die-hard manga fans please avoid this as it might leave a bitter aftertaste in you after the show. However the ending leaves much to be desired, might have another spin off soon?

Not bad a show to catch, for laughs and the little weird habits of L. But my favourite's still Light Yagami~ Suckers!

Failed JLPT2!

As above. Sucks. Re-taking this year... Period.

Achmed the Dead Terrorist

Something my cousin shared with me today. WARNING: the following content may be offensive to some. ;)

My CNY Pics!

CNY ’08

Jay vs Stephen

First of all, a Happy Chinese New Year to all! It's been a great break so far, although I've been sleeping late almost every night.

Had a sumptous steamboat for the reunion dinner on the eve at my maternal aunt's place, then had my favourite "lotus duck" at my paternal aunt's place on the 1st day. That's the one thing that I always liked about visiting on the 1st day.

Then another feast on the 2nd day at the same maternal aunt's place, but this time it's more rowdy cos all the families on my mother's side (except for 1) came visiting! A madhouse with 20+ ppl, adults and children alike!

Anyway, caught 2 "CNY" movies or 贺岁片 over the weekend with Law and gang. Watched Kung Fu Dunk with Ivan as well on the 2nd day. It's not too bad considering the negative review by some friends and in the papers. Some parts made me laugh out loud and Jay's acting has considerably improved since Initial D. Add in cameos by lotsa famous personalities and with some nice fighting scenes + basketball scenes, you've got yourself a decent movie to rake in the money!

Just caught CJ7 with Law and GY a few hours earlier. Wasn't really keen on the movie initially but still caught it in the end just to find out how "good" or "bad" it was... Well, you've got your typical Stephen Chow movie but not as funny as Kungfu Hustle and Shaolin Soccer. If you're expecting more laughs, then you'll be sorely disappointed. Kudos to Xu Jiao, prodigy child actor discovered by Stephen for acting as a schoolboy when she's a girl *gasp* Also, another actress discovered by Stephen is the beautiful Kitty Zhang Yuqi, who plays a nice teacher in the show as well. Here's some pics to get the point across~




Kitty Zhang. Isn't she beautiful~


Xu Jiao with Kitty Zhang. She looks absolutely fabulous in a cheongsam~



In summary, Kung Fu Dunk gets my vote over CJ7 for me~ =)

Dined with 4 ladies this week. =)

It's my luck that I managed to have dinner with 4 different ladies this week and it's considered my honour! =)

Tuesday:

Accompanied a colleague of mine. Amy after work to get her laptop fixed at Sim Lim Square, cos she wanted someone who could give some IT advice and she was afraid she might kena "eaten" by the ppl there. After sending the laptop for repair, we had dinner at some HK cafe at Bugis (can't remember the name for the love of God...) but it's opposite Ma Maison and got some HK celebrity endorsing it... Thanks Amy for the treat!

Wednesday:

Had the long-delayed dinner with Ash at Ma Maison (yes.. bugis junction again..) Suggested there cos she hasn't been there before and I liked the decor and ambience there as well. =) Managed to persuade her to try escargots and seems like she din regret it. heh~ She asked me an interesting question over dinner actually. "What's your plans for V-Dae?" To which I answered "Go to work, work, run home and hide" It's going to be depressing to be walking the streets to see couples hand-in-hand and kids trying to sell balloons and flowers at astronomical prices. Just reminds me of the state I'm in right now. To me, V-Dae's just a day when everything becomes expensive (like ERP and bak kwa). She suggested asking someone out but which sane girl would wanna come out on V-dae with me? *GASP* LOL

Btw, thanks for the treat, Ash!

Thursday:

Met up with Iris, a secondary school friend of mine who I met one day while shopping for a present. She remembered me and gave me a special discount on top of the sale that was on. =) It was her off day so we had dinner at Sakae at northpoint (we both live in yishun) although i'm sceptic of sakae, it was fine except the chawanmushi took too long and our orders got mixed up. =( Tat was my treat for her for giving me the discount. Had starbucks later and I showed her my Taiwan photos on PSP. Promised to show her my Japan photos next time....

Friday:

Met up with a friend of my cousin, Louise for dinner at Kyo-Nichi Ramen at MS which I had been craving for some time~ It's my no. 4 ramen restaurant and the soup never ceases to satisfy my tastebuds. =) After that, she went back to work as she was on standby but she would be joining the rest of the gang (my cousin's frens) after that.

Got a ride from Hanjia to Arab St where they all were. He was at Millenia Walk for Salsa dancing and I'm tempted to try it out now... Cecy and gang (my cousin, Anto, Brandon) were at this Turkish place which looks good and the food there tastes good as well. Going to try there one day! We later settled at the lounge at Hotel InterContinental (bugis junction again) and more frens dropped by later (Huat, Jansen, Leni, Louise) It was nice to catch up with them over drinks and stuff and we went for supper nearby at the bak chor mee stall at Liang Seah St which Jansen "highly recommended"!

So pretty tiring this week, eating out and sleeping late, but with friends around for you, who needs love? ;)

P.S all 4 ladies are taken by the way... Haha!

Da Mist~

A jam-packed Saturday for me yesterday! Went to my uncle's place to help him upload his webby to his page and had a free lunch treat at J8's Din Tai Fung~ Thanks!

Went back to office to do some testing for some app server upgrade which din go too well, collected my Levis from Orchard, bus down to Sunshine Plaza to stock up on Gundam modelling tools (I'm finally going to start on them!), then to Sim Lim to get a clear case for my PSP then off to dinner with Ivan at Bugis Junction. Ended up buying a pair of clip ear phones from Sony cos the in-ear phones din work well for me and reminded me pretty much for ear plugs for live firing ranges back in the army. Eeek...

Then off to his place to visit the dogs, who I missed v much~ All 7 of them. =) Then got a call from Law about catching The Mist back at Yishun GV at 1210!

The Mist's not bad, although I did not read the book. But I realised that I'm into sad movies which usually doesn't have happy endings... once again like cloverfield, it shows what men (and women) can turn into when they are overwhelmed by fear like what the movie's slogan said "Fear changes everything". If the haze were to come to Singapore, no points for guessing what I'll do. ;)

In the end, the show ended like 2.30 and I finally got to bed at about 3... zzzz to think i planned to have a good night's sleep this weekend...

Something must be wrong with me...

While walking back from the train station back home, out of sudden, tears started streaming down my face! I was taken aback and shocked!

After quickly drying my face with tissue and checking whether my eyes looked weird after crying, I quickened my pace and walked home briskly....

Tear gland problem? Something got into my eye? Or was I hit by a wave of sorrow suddenly? All I know is that there must be something wrong with me...

On another note, I found myself at a crossroad recently. Should I continue to go to YCK or finally leave?

It's been a while since I turned up at YCK and after joining them for the past few sessions, i realised things have changed quite a bit. I missed the kids and was very touched when the kids remembered me. That's one of the happy moments I've tucked away in the corner of my mind. But i felt somehow distant and not so welcome by some of the other volunteers. Maybe after I've been away for so long, I've been forgotten? Or been perceived as a "leaver"?

Leaving is painful but if it is necessary, then so be it.... Perhaps it is really time for me to put the past behind and move on...

Enlightened!

It's been a great weekend for me so far! Managed to clean up the mess in my room in time for CNY thanks to my mom. ;) and met YCK ppl for dinner at ol' AMK S11 and KTV later at Chinatown. After that went to catch the much-anticipated Cloverfield with who else but Law and GY!

Show's great, i love such shows where they dun reveal too much about the story
and let you watch it for yourself.

***WARNING Minor spoiler below***
***Highlight the text below to see the words if you want***

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I like the part when the 2 friends lament about what they said and should have said to their loved ones before they died. Made me treasure my friends and family around even more. Also the film was made in a good way that it was all from a video camera. The tape in it was supposedly recorded over a previous video made by the lead guy, when he was on a sweet date with his girl. :) But the ending was a bit... anti climax, but expected from J.J Abrams of course...
______________________________________________

Now talking about being enlightened... Invited by my colleague, LT to her church service at Suntec City. was apprenhensive about attending a church cos of previous bad experiences but she assured me that nothing of that sort would happen. So there I was at 11am this morning and attended my first chruch service of 2008. All went well, there was the singing of hymns (with a twist, new age + rock), holy communion (i got cracker and ribena) and bible lessons as well. The service did me some good as I could relate part of it to my own situation actually. Felt slightly better and motivated after that.

Had lunch with LT, her hubby and her hubby's brother as well at Crystal Jade and got a free treat from her brother-in-law. Thanks! After that, I took a slow walk to Sim Lim Square from Suntec (contrary to popular belief, it's not that far as you might think, about 20 mins walk?)

Bought 2 X 4GB mem sticks for Simon and was contemplating a PSP clear cover for myself but not sure what to get... Going to consult Law for that..

Later met the guys for dinner and LAN (Battlefield 2 rox!) and bought Unicorn Gundam from James as well. =) My first MG Gundam!

Happy weekend for me so far. How about yours?

=)