Gorge and Guzzle, The Great Oktoberfest Pig-out

To celebrate Oktoberfest, the unkers are organising a BBQ pig-out tommorrow.

Actually its just an excuse to get together to gorge and guzzle. That is what 11 of us will be doing at someone's place. I am sure the real meaning of Oktoberfest will be completely lost on us. Who cares anyway huh? =))

The menu for the evening, so far, is :

7 slabs of prime NZ Ribeye
30 German Bratwurst, Mexican Chorizo, Spicy Italian, Aussie BBQ and Pork Sausages
9 slabs of Pork Chops
1/2 a Rack of Lamb
50 Chicken Wings
400g of streaky bacon
2 Kgs of marine-fresh giant Angka Prawns
2 whole Red Snappers
A mix of Portobello, White Button and Swiss Brown Button Mushrooms
2 pkts of Potatoes
8 cobs of corn
1 watermelon

AND...8 litres of Erdinger Weis and Dark. Prost!

Hope we have fun and no one faints from over-ingestion and meat-fume poisoning =))

Back To Skool

Its back to the Academy this whole week. I feel young again! =))

But when I walk into class and see all the middle-aged fogeys, I come crashing right back down again =)) We have a nightmare of a lecturer taking us through a 5-day intensive course involving lots of reading and paper writing. I mean we are senior to middle management but he treats us like we were his Sophomore-year back in University.

And he likes to pick on me because I am back to my old habit of sitting at the last row of the tutorial room. You see Last-row Sitters are either idling or sleeping =)) And I have to SMS under the table while trying to keep one eye on his powerpoint slides or he will launch into a 5min tirade on mutual respect and paying attention.

Can you believe he actually threatens us with extra papers to write if we are tardy and do not report 10mins before the stated lecture time? Where is he from? Communist China? East Germany? >( Loser!

Anyway, quite an interesting course lah, credit to him. Learnt lots. Also discovered that my brain is not what it used to be. It processes things about 3 times slower these days =/

OK bedtime. I foresee it will be another mad dash to class in the morning =))

The Single Nomad

Today I made the decision to move back to my humble little Government-built HDB flat after spending the last 2 years renting 2 consecutive private apartments to stay in. I presently live alone.

The decision was basically a financial one. Not that I am in any difficulty or anything but our sweet little single tenant got married and moved out today. And instead of going through the hassle of screening potential newcomers (we are super fussy about who gets to live in our house), I thought I would just move back in alone and save some rent money in the process.

But being the spendthrift that I am, I don't think the 'savings' would translate into any substantial moolah in the bank =)) But I will try. Cross my heart.

Seriously, its not easy bleeding more than a thousand bucks a month on rent. Although I will miss the pool at my doorstep and the covered parking in the basement, I could do with the extra cash flow. Like the instalments on a new car for example. OK I didn't say that! =))

It felt good going back 'home' just now. The place looks just the way we left it. Spick and Span. The sweet little tenant did a good job maintaining it. All I need now is a new set of blinds, a dryer and I am good to go.

BUT, and that's a BIG BUTT, the thought of packing up and moving AGAIN, when I just did so barely 6 months ago, sickens me. Lucky a quarter of my stuff is still left unpacked. Had a feeling this would happen you see =))

Oh well. Until we feel ready enough to buy a private apartment of our own then.

Being a single nomad is not fun, Its always better to travel in twos.

UnkEats - Botak Jones

see unker kona's review of BOTAK JONES (americanski grub) here =))

X-List

Everybody's into Top 10 lists these days. On the radio, on Blogs, in trashy magazines...So here's my frivolous 10.

Top 10 Things Why You Should Have Listened To Your Mudder And Not Date That Taller Woman.

10. You see a Chiropractor who treats you for tilting your head 45 degrees constantly.

9. While you THINK you look like Tom Cruise, people are secretly calling you Danny Devito.

8. She contemplates sitting on a wheelchair to make you feel better.

7. When driving her car, you take the chance, while she is oogling that Lamborghini, to furtively move the seat forward 5 inches.

6. Once the DJ gets to the slow-dance numbers, you fake incontinence and dash to the toilet until the Red Hot Chilli Peppers come on again.

5. You tell her absent-mindedly one day that you can see faint shadows of stubble under her chin and a strand of nose-hair from where you are, paying for it dearly thereafter.

4. When bargaining at the Wedding Photographer's, you stupidly ask if they provide a couple of stacked-up Telephone Directories at no extra charge.

3. While taking a romantic stroll out on the beach in the moonlight, you aim to wrap your arms around the small of her back but get the backside instead.

2. At your first meeting, her mother offers you milk instead of tea.

And the Numero Uno reason why you should have listened to Mummy dearest is...

1. You fondle yourself proudly in the shower while trying to tip-toe to see your manhood over the vanity-top in the mirror.

=))

UnkEats - First Thai

Seeing tanks roll on the streets of Bangkok and GEN Sonthi Boonyarataglin sitting at the feet of King Bhumibol Adulyadej in the papers reminded me that I have a review of First Thai, at 23 Purvis Street, pending =))

Actually we were there 2 weeks ago and I somehow forgot to introduce you guys to this pretty authentic Thai restaurant, if you don't already know about it. OK its more of a kopitiam really, no air-con hor =)) But prices are very reasonable and the cooking quite home-styled. I suppose home-style means simple and no-frills lah. So don't expect your Tom Yam Goong to come in a ceramic Bencharong bowl, unless of course the utensils were purchased in bulk from Chatuchak market =P



This place, tucked in a corner of the street next to the popular Hainanese restaurant Yet Con, has been here for quite a while. At least since 3-4 years ago I reckon, may be longer. You know I have a confession to make. I don't really like Thai THAI Food. Its a little too sweet and coconutty for my liking. So I steer clear from stuff like Pad Thai, Green Curry, Red Curry, milky Tom Yam soups etc. What I really like is Thai-Chinese cuisine, if you can call it 'cuisine' at all. So when in Bangkok, I usually make a beeline for the stalls and foodshops along Yaowarat Road, Chinatown of the Thai capital.

And if I have a craving for Sawadee Surprises while in Singapore, it would be this place or the Thai-Chinese restaurant on the 4th floor of Sembawang Shopping Centre (can never remember the name except that they used to have a little stall at the basement of the foodcourt).

3 years ago when we started coming here to makan, it was still virtually unknown and quiet. Now, during mealtimes, you would be hard-pressed to get a table. No reservations are allowed so what to do, Q lor.

I have yet to taste a really authentic Tom Yam Soup in Singapore. None of the milky nonsense for me, I like the clear-soup type that looks deceptively benign but would burn a trail down your gullet =)) This Tom Yam Goong (Prawn) was, I suppose, above average lah. But I still dunno why they must stuff the soup with so much stuff. We order soups for a reason you know. 7/10.


Deep Fried Chicken Wings. Don't ask me if this is authentic Thai and why the wings have multiple slash wounds =)) Passable only, if not a little dehydrated. 5.5/10


Seafood Vermicelli. Ahhh this was sedap. With the Wok Hei (Cantonese for the slightly burnt aromas infused into the dish from the heat of the flame used to fire up the wok) somemore. 8.5/10.


Sambal Kangkong. Hard to screw up. Did not disappoint because it was helluva spicy. Better standby with a glass of cold water. 7.5/10.


You guys know that Pineapple Fried Rice is a S'porean invention right? You can't find it in Thailand =)) This one you can though, Olive Fried Rice. Suffice to say I am not a fan of olives but it was K's idea. And since she always waxes lyrical over this, it should be quite good lah. 7.5/10.


And this is a must-try. The deep-fried Grouper in Sweet-and-Sour Pineapple sauce. This is the only thing sweet I would take. Fish was really fresh to boot, soft on the inside, crispy on the outside with the savoury juices drizzled on the top. Nice. 8.5/10.


Wash it all down with some Thai Tangerine juice. A little too sweet but Tangerines are more refreshing than oranges. To me at least. 7/10.


So my lousy Maths gives First Thai an average of 7.3/10. Good enough, I suppose, to be standing in line for 20mins.

The Good Bad Boss

At a project meeting with my younglings today, the conversation turned to what a gargantuan arse my big boss is.

The guy's a 'Divide and Conquer' ruler and plays one person against another so that at the end of the day, he wins. To him, the ends justify the means and he would stop at nothing to achieve what he deems as The Correct Way. You know everyone else is an idiot and he himself has an IQ of 250. And while he has oodles and oodles of EQ, the rest of us have as much feelings as the algae-ridden rock sitting at the bottom of his fishtank.

Narcissistic bastard!

So I had to bite my tongue and not join in the boss bashing. At least not so enthusiastically lah =P Afterall, I am middle-management and can't be seen to be bad-mouthing my superior officer. Not setting a good example really =))

But I just had to tell them this. In spite of all his character flaws (actually who doesn't have them huh?), the guy delivers. And this, at the end of the day, is what matters most to the Big Big Bosses. Mr Bad Guy gets things done and has the results to show for it. So while I certainly don't like him as a person, I do respect him for his ability.

And it is this ability that compels and drives me to call him Lao Ban day in and day out. I wouldn't have been able to do so with a clear conscience otherwise.

Its not easy for the young ones to understand. Their 'respect' is pretty much based on feel good factors. To them, a genuinely friendly but mediocre leader is better than one that thrives on politiks but dares to slaughter sacred cows in return for change and renewal. So their objectivity becomes clouded and they start to view everything Mr IQ250 says with disdain and suspicion.

They will learn one day, perhaps, that in the real world, Good Guys just don't last.

Rarer still, a boss with a heart of gold but fists of steel.

Unkers@TheMovies - The Banquet

Director Feng Xiaogang, although not as well-known as art-house darlings Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou, still produces a beautiful arty-farty adaptation of Hamlet in The Banquet, an ancient Chinese melo-drama set in the tumultous period of the 5 Dynasties and 10 Kingdoms.



In case you're wondering, and contrary to the title, there's no eating and drinking of orgasmic proportions in the movie, Instead, its quite the complicated love quadrangle =P

Usual stunner Zhang Ziyi plays Empress Wan, a love-torn and ambitious babe of a monarch forced to marry the brother of her husband whom the former murders in order to usurp the throne. The evil brother is played by the brilliant Ge You who then becomes Emperor Li. Li has always had the hots for Wan and when the 2 finally get together under such treacherous circumstances, they really look like father and daughter =)) Anyway, to add to the mix, Wan's stepson from her previous marriage, Prince Wu Luan, played by solitary Hongkie actor Daniel Wu, is her former lover. You see the little Prince is atypical of Chinese royalty, preferring the Arts to the butts of the countless pretty courtesans made available to him 24/7. After his horny father steals his girlfriend Wan for himself (see it runs in the family!), Prince Wu Luan exiles himself to a nice Shakespearean theatre in the middle of a gorgeous Bamboo forest far-far-away to nurse his broken heart and to dabble in singing and drama. While he is there cavorting with a posse of equally artistically-inclined faggots, the handsome Prince is pined for by Qing Nu, played by the delectably nubile Zhou Xun, the daughter of a Minister in his father's former court. When Prince Wu Luan discovers that his father has been murdered and that his dear uncle is now emperor, he survives a brutal assassination attempt to rush back to the Capital in an effort to exact revenge.

OK confused yet? Told you it was complicated =))

But even if you don't give a damn about the love-love thingy and all that betrayal nonsense, go see the show for its wonderful cinematography and locations. It made me want to go to China. The costumes were also marvellous with Director Feng liberally using rich Reds, Golds and Blacks to give the whole movie a wonderfully stylish modern-Chinois feel. I especially liked the look of the Emperor's Imperial Guards, a cross between LOTR's Nazgul and Battlestar Galactica's Cylons, with their full-faced helmets and matt black/gold armor. And oh the sets and props also took on a Starck-ShanghaiTang manifestation that I would really love to see in my own apartment.



Ziyi gives a commendable performance. But for me Ge You as Emperor Li was the better actor with his lascivious glint and usual brutal Monarch demeanour. Zhou Xun was also a surprise for me though. The cutey-pie can actually pull her own weight amongst the stellar cast despite having a formidable Da Jie in Ms Zhang. I must catch her in the screen adaptation of Dai Sijie's The Little Chinese Seamstress where I hear she stars as the main Protaganist. Daniel Wu, on the other hand, was a little difficult to put a finger on. His Prince Wu Luan is a pretty lembek fella in the movie and one wonders why the 2 babes Wan and Qing want so desperately to bed him. Maybe it goes to show that it pays to be a SNAP (Sensitive New-Age Prince) more interested in Poetry than Policy. But yet his character brings a certain zen-like calmness to proceedings and serves as a moral guide-post in spite of the pervading immorality. Moreover Wu is Kung-Fu trained so he had no problems executing a lot of the ballet-like, slow-motion, sword-fighting replays which were quite nice to watch.

Well if you're into Eye-Candy in lush costumes with a big dash of scandalous lovin' thrown in for good measure, go catch the The Banquet. But try not to bitch about the ending though. Abit unsatisfying if you know what I mean.

And don't expect to see Anthony Bourdain, as Lord Chamberlain, whipping something up in the Palace pantry either =))

7.2/10

The Tightrope Of Power

You know I rarely scold my subordinates nowadays, the team leaders especially. But I just let fly a pretty long and nasty email to the 8, lambasting them for their lack of urgency and a lacksidaisical attitude towards some of my instructions.

And as I sit here, having simmered down considerably, I feel guilty.

Its always like that. I blow my top then feel that I shouldn't have said some things that could have hurt people afterwards. But sadly, words cannot be eaten. Although you wish that you could blend the sentences into some kind of puree and proceed to suck them up with a straw =))

Hiazz but what to do. These people give me an aneurysm sometimes.

I have 4 boys and 4 girls. All in their mid to late twenties. OK not really boys and girls per se but hell they behave like teenagers occasionally. And I depend on them to help me manage a team of 200. If it were a one-man show with moi at the helm, I would have been admitted to an asylum ages ago =))

I am not much older at 33. And sometimes there is this precarious tight-rope of trying to be a boss and a friendly peer at the same time. Is this even possible I wonder.

So during meetings, we would alternate between talking about operations and the latest movie or hip place to hang-out. Or we would bitch and gossip over kopi about our problematic chewren, the little rascals that we manage lah, after the serious discussions are out of the way.

And you know I try to empower instead of overpower. I am not the power-hungry bastard some people make me out to be =)) I want them to use their god-given brains, be pro-active with solutions to problems, to think out of the box, to make their own intelligent decisions but to be prepared to answer for those decisions if they turn out to be stupid.

But sometimes I feel they want to be over-powered with micro-managed spoonfeeding instead. I swear its the way most Singaporeans are brought up. Big Daddy must tell me what to do in case I screw up so HE can answer for it.

As a friend I want to empower. But in times like this, I have to be the mean boss that overpowers.

I will bitch about the differences between boys and girls as leaders, the way I see it, some other time. That's another controversial story my 4am brain cannot manage for now =))

Crikey!

Now that the shock surrounding the sudden demise of the man with the Khaki shorts 3 sizes too small has dissipated somewhat, I am ready to talk about it.



Not that I miss him or anything. Well OK, was abit melancholic when the Animal Planet inundated us with non-stop Steve Irwin memoirs last week. The man has a passion for the beasts, no doubt. But if you think about it objectively, did he deserve it?

There's a good, balanced commentary in the papers today about how a Aussie columnist Germaine Greer received truckloads of arrows from fellow Aussies for suggesting, in an earlier article after Irwin's death, that he got what he deserved. She said he did not respect the space that animals need. Choosing to barge his way through their habitats and man-handle the poor fellas, Crocs especially.

Poke, Prod, Wrestle, Babble. You name it, he's done it.

She is not wrong really. Insensitive maybe for making such comments at a time like this but she's got a point.

Irwin, for all his great love for animals, thought he knew them too well and always had the upper hand. Sadly, he was wrong. Animals do not think like Humans, period. The warning signs were there. When Irwin dangled his toddler while trying to feed a dead chicken to a Croc a few years ago, you ask yourself if he was doing a Michael Jackson. For the stupid publicity.

They say a cat has nine lives, he probably used up his 13th.

I leave you with a nice quote from the same article which I thought was pretty thought-provoking in its simplicity...

Its one thing to dress your poodle up in baby clothes, its totally another thing to assume that your poodle likes it.

Well RIP mate. Even in death, you've taught us something about the Beastie Boys you sacrificed so much for.

UnkEats - Of ChaShu And Chuao

Barely 3 days after we were at Aburiya, we drove down to Robertson Quay again yesterday for some Ramen.

I tell you this place is fast becoming our 2nd home =)) This time however, we skipped Miharu at Gallery Hotel for Ichibantei, another Ramen joint. A bigger one with none of the typical Japanese claustrophobia.



I'll be frank, Miharu has the better noodle texture, you know the Al dente springy-ness of it all. But Ichibantei has the superior soup stock. Rich in its Miso-ness and yet not too salty. This is the spicy Tan Tan ramen with minced pork that K had. The oh so yummy hard-on-the-outside-soft-on-the-inside egg comes as a separate side order.


I had the ChaShu (Japanese-speak for Charsiew, roast pork) Miso Ramen which was just as heavenly. Notice that I like it with lotsa chilli powder for that extra oomph!



After lunch, we strolled over to The Chocolate Factory a couple of shops down the row. This is a very stylish boutique chocolate cafe cum mini-factory cum retail store that I would really reccommend to all chocoholics.



Owner/Chocolatier Laurent Bernard, who hails from Montpellier, France, runs the place with his Czech wife Yvetta, after having spent some time as a Pastry Chef with the Meritus Mandarin. According to Laurent, he sources his chocolate from a Cocoa plantation in Chuao, a remote 16th century village on the Carribean coast of Venezuela where he says, the best Cocoa beans on this planet are produced. How exotic! The chocolates on sale are hand-made everyday and kept in a special coldroom in-store at a steady temperature of about 16 degrees. After knowing all this, trust me you don't want to find out the price for a little bar of the dark good-stuff =))

Even though we were stuffed with Japanese noodles, we just had to try the Factory's Flourless Chocolate Cake. And my oh my, out of this world I tell you. The slice was very light (cos got no flour wat silly) and still the chocolate flavor came on so strongly and tastefully. Eaten with a slight dollop of whipped cream, the whole morsel just melts in your mouth in a chocolatey, bitter-sweet mess that will send you into a Cocoa-orgasm =))



So you see, that's why I had to go to the gym today. Terribles =))

The Eccentric Dali-ng

I won't say I'm a great fan of the eccentric Master Surrealist Salvador Dali (1904 - 1989).

Some of his stuff are downright weird and a little too 'sub-conscious' for my liking. But they do make you stop and look I concede.

Over the next month or so, the Opera Gallery in Ngee Ann City has brought in a number of the Master's works, both paintings and giant sculptures, which will be displayed around our little island. So me and K popped down to the gallery for a look-see today. We caught these 2 behemoths outside the behemoth mall as well.

Will try to catch the rest of his works like the famous Space Elephant and St George And The Dragon when we have the time.

In the meantime, I think I still prefer Fernando Botero's Fat Ladies and other grotesquely obese creatures =))

Profile Of Time

The melting watch is one of Dali's most famous images (US$1.3m).

Space Venus

The armless female form has a melting watch sliding down her neck and a golden egg on her dis-jointed pelvis (US$1.7m).

UnkEats - Wagging to Wagyu, An Aburiya Experience

Well it was supposed to be a quiet little Italian birthday dinner tucked away in some obscure part of Bukit Timah the day before. But I had a craving for beef and was feeling particularly carnivorous.

And so instead of popping down to our usual Ko at The Intercontinental for their insanely expensive Wagyu that you cook yourself on hotstones (oolala!), we checked out Aburiya at Roberston Quay instead. Turned out to be a fabulous place for Sumiyaki or the Japanese traditional charcoal grill.

You know Robertson Quay is Singapore's own veritable little Shinjuku Central. OK sans the schoolgirl bars and seedy salary-men watering holes lah =)) The sheer number of nice little Japanese eateries and restaurants here is simply amazing. We're also always at Miharu down the street at the Gallery Hotel for their Hokkaido Ramen. But I tell you the Quay is really a nice place to live in. What with all the swanky serviced-apartments and stylish wine boutiques in the same neighbourhood. And yet its still quiet and serene. Maybe we were there on a Monday evening =)) But I could really live here, seriously =P

Aburiya is not a big place. Inside, in air-conditioned comfort, it sits about, say, 25 tops. And outside (no smoking hor!!) roughly another 25. Its not a buffet so expect to choose from the a la carte menu, which by the way is very beef-biased. Fine by me! =)) And so you have the top-of-the-line Wagyu Ribeye Saikoro (cube-cuts), Wagyu Jo Karubi (prime short-rib), Hire (tenderloin), Harami (outside skirt) to stuff like tripe, intestines, tongue and get this, the cow's fourth stomach =/



The grill is small but intense. Probably due to the good-quality charcoal that they use. Not the usual smelly, smokey BBQ that makes your hair stink even 5 hours after a shampoo and shower.

Clockwise from left, we had the Tontoro (fatty pork cheek slices that you grill to a crisp. Sedap!), some pork sausage slices with cheese, Onigiri (traditional Japanese rice balls), a couple of Wagyu Jo Karubi slices and finally a sliver of garlic sausage. As I write this I am starting to drip again..=))



Ahhh and yes, the Wagyu Ribeye that sizzles beautifully and melts in your mouth. Got me Mooo-ing uncontrollably =))



I had a Sapporo and K, a Shochu Grapefruit. Notice that you are required to squeeze the citrus fruit yourself and pour the juice into your glass of potent 'ice-water'. For the uninitiated, Shochu is not Sake. Its an alcoholic beverage which is not brewed (like Sake) but distilled and comes from a variety of raw materials like potato, buckwheat (soba) and barley, apart from rice. Shochu, it seems, is fast gaining popularity over its traditional Sake rival in Japan.



After dinner we popped by Bar Opiume (next door to Indochine Waterfront) at the Asian Civilizations Museum along the other Quay, Boat Quay, for some after-dinner jazz and cocktails. A nice quartet which churned out old Harry Connick Jr, Nat King Cole and Diana Krall favorites served to help settle the cattle romp we had earlier =))



Can't remember the names of the 2 cocktails we ordered. Suffice to say they were supposed to be old Indochine favorites. One had tequila as the base liquor and the other was a blended margarita I think =))



Good food, splendid drinks and great company. What more could I ask for.

9 + 11 = 33 - 13

I turn 33 tommorrow.

Scary. How time flies.

No big deal really. More so when you have to share your birthday with the anniversary of the single most horrific act of terror the world has seen in a long time. Spoils the mood somewhat I guess but the tragedy sobers you up a little. This world needs more Love, period.

Well unlike some people, I am not ridiculously upset about turning a year older. At least I think so. If there is any cause for sombre reflection, it would be how I can think and act more like a 33 year-old. Because sometimes I feel like I have the maturity of a 43 year-old but choose to display the mental faculties of someone 13 years young =))

An unconscious attempt to turn back the hands of time perhaps. I don't know.

Should I be miffed that a little kid calls me 'uncle' instead of 'kor kor'? Who am I bluffing? Most of my peers have chewren who can mouth the word 'Daddy'.

Welcome to Uncle-dom Mister! =))

So here's my Birthday wish. A simple one. To manifest the wisdom of someone way beyond my years, and yet maintain the health, fitness and youthful vigor of someone a decade behind. With a huge dollop of humor thrown in for good measure of course.

I'll tell you next 9-11 if the growing up has been successful ;)

Elementary, Its Complementary

B and me have been buddies since Secondary 1.

Right up to JC2 and now we're colleagues in the same organization. So we go a long way back, about 20 years I reckon.

Well ever had people wonder aloud why you two are best friends when the both of you seem so different on the outside? Its like that with B and me. Chalk and Cheese, at least externally.

B's a smiley bloke, the epitome of diplomacy. I, on the other hand, am loud and brash. When presented with a problem, he'll be on the defensive and I'll be on the offensive. B listens to you attentively, eyes fixed and head nodding gently to the rhythm of your sentences. While you would be lucky if I don't cut you off in mid-sentence and present you with MY preferred solutions =)) And B would excuse himself over a meal to call the wife and kids to ask if they would want to tapao some bites. I would excuse myself over a meal to go outside and have a bite, of my ciggie.

So you see, a SNAG and a FAG-HAG. Strange bedfellows really =))

Although we work in the same organization, we hardly see each other nowadays. Well its a big place and the departments are spread out all over our tiny little island. B's in HQ, closer to the gods, and I am exiled way up north in my not-so-little fortress by the Straits filled with plankton. Our careers have also taken different tangents, with his on an adminstrative-managerial track, while mine in a more operational-leadership direction.

So B and me met for dinner and coffee yesterday evening. And as usual, we just mossied along from where we left off, a good 6 months ago. I felt a tad guilty updating B about my life since then. There was pretty much to say and he was surprised, rather shocked in fact, that it took me half a year to come clean.

But after I had finished with all my sad updates, I was reminded of why we are still buddies after 2 decades. He listens while I rant. I don't need quick-fixes really and he doesn't pretend to know-it-all. And in all his Zen-like calmness, I usually find my own solutions. He's sorta like my Shrink you see, bringing balance to the Force =))

And its not like I don't have a lesson or two for him on tempering diplomacy with a sense of acute urgency. There were times when I had to pluck B out from the merry-go-round of pleasing all-and-sundry and making himself upset in the pantry. A case of stripping away some of the Mr Nice-Guy veneer and getting him to swash-buckle that Light-sabre abit to get things moving along. He doesn't make people feel pain enough =))

At the end of the day, I think we are both complementary. I won't use the term 'opposites attract' because I think its disgusting in the male-male context =))

But that's what good friends are for ya? They play the part of the person you are not.

On demand =)

uncle kona's recommendation of...

...an ole uncle classic song...jose mari chan's BEAUTIFUL GIRL (follow the link) =)

hope you like it as much as i do!

StyleFiles@Unkster - SB2006...

...stands for the Singapore Biennale 2006 (pronounced bee-n-ali). The biggest contemporary visual arts exhibition this tiny island has ever organized.

Not to be confused with another biggie, S2006, the IMF World Bank Conference also being run at about the same time but for a much shorter duration. Thank God! SB2006 is touted to be the cultural showcase of S2006, timed no doubt to show the world that we are not all Dollars and Cents, but we have some arty-farty Collars and Sense as well =))

Anyway the organisers for both mega-events are sooooo creative when it comes to names I tell you =P



SB2006 runs from 4 Sep 06 till 14 Nov 06 and showcases about 95 artists and 200 works of Contemporary Visual Art. And its not just about boring paintings lah. There are light sculptures, video presentations, lithographic/photographic exhibitions, murals and even a 'Raining Tree'.

Best of all, alot of the art installations take place in places of worship or heritage sites so visitors really get the best of both worlds, Art and a little bit of History thrown in.

For example Jaume Plensa's light sculpture 'Singapore Bridge of Light' is an intense beam of light sent upwards from a searchlight embedded in a 3m-high stone infront of the Maghain Aboth Synagogue. And Ashok Sukumaran's 'Everything Is Contestable' are lights placed around the facade of the Armenian Church of St Gregory The Illuminator which can be controlled by the public via 2 switches placed outside. Then there is Hiroshi Sugimoto's 'In Praise of Shadows', a series of lithographic prints that showcase his use of long-term exposures to record flickering flames that is being displayed at the Church of Saints Peter and Paul.

Gonna pop down to see some of the stuff in the coming 10 weeks. Especially those involving the use of light cos K and me are quite enamoured with stylish lampshades and designer brights =)) Its also a good chance for us to go visit sites like the Sri Krishnan Temple (murals), the Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple (murals) and the City Hall (video), places which we would normally skip in favor of some shopping and a hot cappucino on Orchard Road.

The Urbanised Neanderthals we are =P

By the way, SB2006 somehow reminds me of BM2000, my white Bata canvas/latex school shoes from waaaaaaaaay back then =))

The Alfa Romeo Story - A Tribute

The Alfa Romeo Story. A brilliant tribute to the machine made for men!

Loony Over Moonies

Yes the wait is over!

The shoppes have started selling Mooncakes. And we got some today from Szechuan Court at Raffles The Plaza Hotel. 5 boxes to be exact.

Snowskins seem to be really in vogue this season with the Court hawking the pale-skinned Moonies infused with Bailey's Irish Cream as their latest must-try sensation. And yes we couldn't resist so bought some. But the thing with Snowskins is that they must be refrigerated.











And Mooncake boxes are really getting prettier and prettier these days. This year's offering comes dressed like a Chinese Cheongsam. Opening the box is like unbuttoning the slinky dress. So chinois-chic Shanghai Tang! Think I'm gonna keep the box. I kept last year's one as well to store tea-lights =))











Sorry about the fuzzy shot of a baked Mooncake, single salted egg-yolk in Lotus paste with Macadamia nuts. So excited my hands were shaking so couldn't hold the phone steady =))











Now if I could only find a nice lantern to carry around on 6th Oct =))

Zippidy Doo Dah Day

I really should cut down on my smoking.

Its getting heavier by the day. Dunno why. Idle fingers mebbe. Stress mebbe. Nicotine addiction definitely.

OK its not as if I'm a chain-smoker. I do about a pack a day now. A far cry from say 6 months ago when I was averaging about 5-6 sticks every 24 hours. But I tell myself I am exercising regularly so, err, that about evens out this really bad habit. Abit lah =))

I used to have a self-imposed smoking ban in my own apartment (except in a little corner of the kitchen), but now I puff infront of the TV. I used to have a self-imposed smoking ban in my own car, but now I merrily puff away with the windows wound down, cruising along the highway to work.

In the office, my guys find it easier to talk to me when we light up together and huddle in our own little 'Yellow Box'. Its the Smokers' Bond you see. Regardless of Race, Language or Religion, we gravitate towards each other like the tar stains that stick to our teeth. Eeww! =))

But now I feel guilty about going out today and buying myself a new Olive-green Zippo lighter. I have about given up on all those cheapo Bic-types that you get for 80cts and then promptly chuck when they run out of flammable fluids. I have about 5 of these cheapo lighters in my car, yes FIVE. All in various stages of disrepair =P



I figgered that if you have to expedite your impending death from all those carcinogens, might as well do it with a little more style. Its not as if I haven't owned a Zippo before though. Had a classic matt-silver one which made a really nice Ka-ching when I flicked the flip-top. Can't find it now.

But Zippo or not, I really need to at least halve the puff-factor.

Anyone tried a Nicotine Patch? =))