Char

Funny how things have changed in just one short year. Last year, I celebrated my 35th with a big bang at Mad Men with a huge crowd of friends, to the tunes of my favorite band and flowing champagne. This year, my early birthday celebration was a much muted and intimate affair, and I was dead sober hah!

Hanging up our party shoes, the dinner party trooped east in our flip flops to Char, this new casual restaurant along Guillemard road. The main appeal for me were the meats - I had read how the chef at Char combines western sous vide methods with Chinese char siew making. I was curious how it would compare to our favorite authority on meats, Kay Lee.

Besides their meats offerings, the restaurant also serves a selection of vegetables and egg dishes. Since there were 13 of us, we just whacked and ordered a whole lot. The highlight was of course the char siew. See below.

Ain't it a beautiful sight, the intensely smoked, darkly caramelised, shiny and succulent thick slices of porky heaven? All senses ignited and I loved it! Unfortunately, we had to ration servings because our group had ordered the last of the char siew for the day. Note to self - preorder next time! Even my meat connoisseur husband said it was good, though I know nothing can replace Kay Lee in his heart haha.

The roast duck was excellent too, not to be overshadowed by the sexier looking char siew. Very flavorful, moist and juicy.

I'm not a sio bak person. But my friends really liked this. Cute touch with the mustard.

The other dishes, like the prawns, eggplant clay pot and sambal kang kong were quite competent and well priced. I had the sweet and sour soup - super comforting (but spicy, I like though). Also try the salted fish fried rice, it had nice wok hei.

The bill came up to around $30 per pax. Pretty good, considering more than half of the group ordered from the artisan beer menu (corkage of $25 per bottle of wine was a tad intimidating). All in all, a not particularly exciting but reliable neighbourhood joint for excellent meats in air conditioned comfort.

Happy early birthday to me! 

Every year I feel very blessed for my beloved family and friends who are always there for me. This year, I have even more to give thanks for - my lovely husband of 8 months and our darling baby who will be here in 6 months! Life is good and I thank God every day for all that he has given me. 

Char
393 Guillemard Road

Public Izakaya by Hachi

Let me just start off by saying that I have been back here for lunch three times in the past two weeks. Not just because it's good, but more because I've gobbled my food before taking a photograph the first two times, and I really wanted to blog about this!

I also want to disclaim that I've been so happy with the grilled chicken with minced pork and onsen egg rice bowl that I've ordered it three times in a row, so I cannot comment first hand whether the rest of the lunch offerings are as good.

Here's the menu, L (whom I was with the 2nd visit) has had the pork ribs version of my rice bowl and said it was awesome too. My colleagues (this visit) had the negitoro minced tuna set and they liked it. As you can see, prices are reasonable. Each lunch set is from $16 - 18++ and comes with pickles, miso soup and a salad. You get a one-time go at the salad buffet to fill up your bowl.

This was what I got: Caesar salad, potato salad, braised lotus root and radish and carrot. Oh, do go early! I was there by 12.15pm so the early bird also got an extra mini bowl of cold soba. Cheap (in this case, free) thrills are the best thrills, don't you agree? Haha.

And here's my beautiful rice bowl. I had asked for less rice and minced pork because I had a huge breakfast but the portions were still pretty hefty. Imagine more minced pork. How I like to eat this is to mix everything up nice and even - I took a pic but it looks gross so not posting here. Really delish though! Really hit the spot. Needless to say, I inhaled the bowl within minutes.

Nope, I am not sick of it yet. I bumped into another colleague at 100AM (the amara shopping centre) and we are arranging lunch, so who knows, I may go back again next week for my fix! Yes, same dish. I'm boring this way, burp.

#01-09, 100AM, 100 Tras Street

Week 14 - Wannabe Fit Mama

Officially in the second trimester and the baby is now the size of a lemon (~9cm)! 

The bump isn't out yet but unfortunately the bloat continues. I don't feel pregnant, just fat! My clothes feel increasingly tight, which is annoying. Sigh, why can't I be one of those skinny-everywhere-but-cute-little-bump pregnant ladies. Haha, it doesn't help that my appetite has been voracious from day one. 

But just because I’m knocked up it doesn't mean I’m letting myself go. I want to be FIT - exercising during pregnancy is one of the best things you can do for yourself and your growing baby during these crazy 9 months. Other than benefits in achieving a speedy delivery and recovery afterwards, I find the time spent exercising highly therapeutic. 

Running
I used to run pretty often B.P., and I hope to continue running until the 3rd Trimester, or until the stomach gets too big, whichever comes earlier. I've had to change some of my usual regime, of course. These days I go slower and don't impose distance targets on myself. Most weeks I try for two 30 minute runs and try to hit 5-6km each time. If I'm tired, it's not the end of the way, I just walk the rest of the way home. After the run, I always feel incredible and I'm just waiting for the day when the baby tells me with a kick to the rib that he/ she likes it too! My energy level during the 2nd Trimester is supposed to increase so I might try to run for a longer period if I feel up to it. 

Pilates
I’ve always wanted to start doing some pilates to correct my terrible posture, so I figured why not start now, before I get too heavy. 4 lessons in, I am proud to report that even though not more toned, I am a lot more self aware about how I stand, walk and move. The instructor tells me I tend to over work my right side especially the shoulder, so my objective is to start waking up the left side muscles to that I can handle the baby weight more evenly in the future.  

Ballet Barre 
I also decided to mix up my workouts. So I read somewhere about this new Ballet moves inspired workout, googled for classes in Singapore and 3 classes in, I am hooked! Besides how effective the workout is to tone, lift and burn my thighs, booty and arms, I like that it's all done to chirpy music and I feel like a (albeit clumsy) ballerina. This is not a prenatal class per se, so I had to inform the instructors for them to modify some of the exercises such as skipping the abdominal twisting. My arms and thighs were killing me for days after the first class, but I'm glad to report I feel much stronger now. 

Yoga
I really miss Bikram Yoga - the sweat, the hard work and the euphoria after. Now that I'm pregnant the heat is out of the question, but I would really like to try out a prenatal yoga class soon. If nothing else, it would be good to properly stretch out those aching muscles.   

Aqua-Aerobics
They say swimming is the best form of exercise for pregnancy but unfortunately I can't swim. Since it's probably not a good idea for me to start swimming now, I might just go to try out a water-based exercise class soon. Let me know if you know where runs good classes!

JB Ah Meng

Weekend nights B.P. (before pregnancy) used to be programmed-packed, occasionally double-booked, starting with early cocktails at new hip bars, followed by wine-filled dinners at up and coming restaurants, and more often than not, we'd end up till the early hours of the next day at our favorite clubs. These days, I'd very much like an early dinner please and be home by 10+pm in order to wind down for bed by midnight. Funny how life has changed. I still do the occasional late night, but whilst my energy level remains comparable (I'm extremely lucky to be the 10-20% of women to not have pregnancy sickness), I'm much happier conserving it for that "rise and shine" early morning high the next day.

JB Ah Meng would NOT have been a choice for Saturday night dinner B.P. The most obvious reason is that we would all be smelling from the recycled tze-char hot air blowing at us throughout dinner, and no way I'd want to mess up my outfit/make-up for the party after-dinner. But A.P, we had quite an enjoyable dinner in unadulterated Geylang alley (some say "lianpang") style. Dresscode: Street casual, and I do mean slippers and shorts.

There were 6 of us so we had a field day ordering.

Fried fish skin

Stir-fried snake beans and celery with deep-fried lotus root slices

Tomato with egg and black fungus

Sweet and sour pork ribs

White pepper crab

 San Lou bee hoon

All the dishes were very competently done. The dish I liked best was the vegetable dish. Loved the wok hei of the fry and how sweet and crunchy the peas were. Would go back just for that. The egg and tomato dish was very different from what we expected (more tomato and black fungus than egg) but very tasty nevertheless. As described by the auntie who took our orders, the sweet and sour pork was "very sweet" and "very sour". I couldn't resist seconds though I had a sore throat - very yummy and sinful. 

The white pepper crabs were smaller than we expected, but the meat was fresh and sweet so no complaints. I still prefer the version from No Signboard though. The San Lou bee hoon resembled a pancake and I liked how it was slightly crispy on top. Not sure if I'd order it again I'm very particular with my carbs, the boss bee hoon from New Ubin Seafood is better wok hei wise, and if I wanted texture, the Putien Heng Hwa beehoon rocks my boat. We also ordered chilli kangkong and fried fermented pork slices but I forgot to take pics. The kangkong was not bad, but the pork slices were reviewed as "excellent beer food" by A and B, who could not resist giving the sexy beer lady their business.  

Still, overall an excellent meal at less than $25 a pax. Good suggestion J! They do take reservations so if you have a big group you might want to call ahead. There's Rochor Beancurd a few streets up if you can still stomach dessert after dinner. We did that, then hurried on home to shower and prepare for bedtime. 

JB Ah Meng
2 Lorong 23, Geylang

Tai Hwa Bak Chor Mee

I'm not a big BCM fan. When I used to live in Shanghai, BCM almost never featured on my must-go-makan list when I'm back. It's nice yes, but there are just too many other distractions. So it was funny how (go figure, hormones) when not one, not two but three friends separately posted their Tai Hwa Bak Chor mee food pics on Facebook, a monster BCM craving overtook me and I just had to have it.

B wasn't working that day so we got to the stall on a weekday at 10.30am. We beat the lunch crowd and there was only four persons ahead of us in the queue. Yippee! Unfortunately, service was really slow so it still took 25 min before we got our food. I shudder to think how long people normally waited during peak hours. Against this psyche of being lucky/timely enough to only face a short queue, we couldn't resist each ordering the biggest bowl at $10!

It was a beauty alright. A huge bowl of vinegary mee pok heaped with nuggets of minced pork, sliced pork, pork dumplings, pig liver and pork balls. We polished the bowl off in no time.

Would I go back again for this? Probably. But no way I'm going to queue during peak hours.

#01-12, Tai Hwa Eating House, 466 Crawford Lane

Tampopo 1-for-1

Being on sabbatical means not having an income, and having to tighten the purse strings to stretch my dollar. Luckily, being on sabbatical also means the luxury of time to compare food prices at supermarkets (yes, I am very much an auntie now, and no, I still don't go to the wet market).

But while I enjoy cooking and will unabashedly say I'm quite a good cook, home-cooked meals get boring after a while. Note to all husbands out there - It's very much a treat when you take your stay-home wifeys out for a nice meal. Take it from this pseudo housewife - Happy wife, happy life!

B and I have been trying to check out more "simple dinner" options near our house. We felt like having Japanese so we decided to explore Liang Court. After browsing around some uninspiring choices, we settled on Tampopo. The restaurant was bustling, which is always a good sign.

The moment we walked in, I saw a table of four all having giant bowls of ramen. Looks yummy, I pointed out excitedly to B (sorry strangers, a bit rude of me).

Ramen craving triggered, it was a bit of a minor victory when B and I saw this promotion. Scores!

From Mondays to Fridays (Friday nights excluded), up until end May, you can order a bowl of ramen and get the second bowl free. There's a choice of the black pig fry ramen, or the tonkatsu ramen. B and I ordered one of each.

Mine was the black pig fry ramen and it was very good. Comparing to the tonkatsu ramen, my broth was lighter but spicier, while the tonkatsu was more robust (likely from the miso). Both the black pig and tonkatsu were super tasty and crispy fried, I'm told its a strength of Tampopo.

$17++ for 2 bowls of good ramen. Excellent deal, all you need is a DBS credit card for this promotion.

Baba Peranakan Truly

My sis won't be too pleased I'm blogging about her go-to place for cheap and good peranakan food, but this place is too good not to share. Granted, westies might hesitate to make the journey, but for people living in the east, you should definitely go and check it out. Preferably on days other than Saturday afternoons, so that my sis will still get her quiet time there haha.

Don't expect a fancy joint because this is literally a hole in the wall. There are tables strewn outside as well as some tables inside where it's air-conditioned, but order at the counter because there won't be waiters coming around to take your order. 

Since it was lunch, sis and I just ordered mee rebus and nonya prawn mee respectively. "Must try the chap chye" sis says, so we got one serving to share. 

The food was indeed tasty and flavorful - thumbs up! The chap chye is probably the best I've had (EVER). Lucky for me sis hates mushrooms so ALL the plump succulent mushrooms were MINE. 

After draining the last of my prawn mee soup dry, I announced to my sis that I was still hungry. One of the best things about being preggers is that I can be shameless about my gluttony. "Mustn't let the pregnant woman go hungry" is the motto, so we ordered a mee goreng to share (naturally, the most sinful item). 

Look at that beauty.   Comparable/ even better than Jumbo's version. They were super duper generous with the seafood, and it was very fresh. To be honest, I was quite stuffed but the mee was so yummy that we polished it off in no time.  

The best part? How affordable everything was! Our meal only cost us $20+! I cannot wait to drag B here for dinner and order dishes. That assam fish head was calling out to me...

Roxy Square
(I don't have the address but it's on the ground floor facing the main road you can't miss it)

Week 12 - The Skull Theory?

The results from last week's Oscar test came back from the lab. My baseline risk (based on my stats i.e. age) for the baby having Down's Syndrome was 1 in 220, and the "adjusted" risk (based on the ultrasound measurement of nuchal translucency) was 1 in 550, so GOOD result! The doc says that if we are still worried we can do a more detailed (and naturally more expensive) blood genetic test, but I'm more inclined to save the milk powder money. 

Anyways, the doc got a nice shot of Baby X today. 

The baby was very active as usual but it was too early to tell if it's a girl or a boy. Funnily I chanced upon some internet material on the "skull theory". Supposedly, boys have larger, blockier foreheads, while girls' heads are rounder. 

Curiosity got the better of me and I goggled some pregnancy forums and studied the "boy or girl" guesses other people had made on ultrasounds posted on the forum. If the Skull Theory is plausible, Baby X looks like a boy to me! 

But on the same forum under a "heart rate" thread, there are posters convinced that the baby is a boy if the heartbeat is lower than 140. Baby X's was 158 (the gynae measured today). So it's a girl?! Confused. 

I dug further and found there's also the LOL "Angle of the Dangle" (read this) to look out for, to help you determine the baby's gender! A bit disturbing.

Some of the other old wives' tales circulating online: 

1. Swollen breasts, a serious sweet tooth, and acne hint at a possible girl (as does craving orange juice). 

2. Increased clumsiness, a hankering for salty treats, and puffed-up pregnant legs hint at a possible boy. 

3. If you hang your wedding ring, from a string, over your belly, it will swing in a circle if you’re having a boy, or back and forth if you are having a girl. 

4. The baby’s gender will be the opposite sex of whoever was more sexually aggressive during conception (WT !!!)

My mum will just say that "healthy can already" and I agree with her completely. Happy to wait for my next gynae appointment in a month, by which time it should be fairly obvious whether it's a boy or girl. I'm honestly thrilled with either - just looking forward to getting the final ok for blue team or pink team shopping!

Sea Salt - The Seafood Place

My first food blog in a long time so I'm letting you in on a latest find. 

As if the Bukit Merah coffee shop housing DeBurg wasn't crowded enough, they had to go and open up a fantastic seafood joint there. Making this officially my favorite coffee shop in Singapore! Ironical, since the coffee shop doesn't even sell kopi or tiger beer, more like lattes and fancy imported beers. 

I had exercised my pregnant-lady-has-a-craving card and coerced B into a burger dinner. But DeBurg was too popular and I didn't fancy waiting an hour for a burger. So we decided to check the new stall out. 

It sure was a blessing in disguise, to have missed the burger boat. Because the food was really good. The tom yum mussels were competent enough, the white bait was very fresh and well fried, but WOW the absolute star was the grilled calamari. B tells me I need to use the (non)word "amazeballs" to describe how good they were. 

We are so coming back to try more of the menu. We paid close to $40 for the 3 dishes above, which I thought was pretty good for the portions. 

Dang, I wish I could get a beer, would be perfect with the food.  

Sea Salt

#01-40, 119 Bukit Merah Lane

Closed Mondays

My Sabbatical - Me, Myself and ahem Baby

Hi I'm back and boy do we have a lot to catch up on. 

Two months ago, I got tired of hearing myself complaining about work and decided to do something about it. It took one particularly sleep-deprived and high strung morning to convince me I needed a break but I did it. Found a nice window of opportunity and gently requested the bosses to give me 4 months off to "rejuvenate"(in reality more to "recover"). 6 months would have been nicer but given how accommodating they were, I was happy to compromise. 

And yes, I am pregnant. Conceived before my sabbatical, during the mad rush to wrap up my projects. B and I had planned for a baby ever since we got hitched last September (I ain't no spring chicken no more), but even I have to admit, the timing couldn't be better.

So here I am, midway through the sabbatical and 3 months preggers, thinking: "I better document this before it just passes me by". 

I decide to re-start this old blog. Because even if nobody's interested to read what I get up to, at least I can relive the sweet sloth of my afternoon naps the next time I am stuck in the office at 10pm haha.   

I will still write about food of course. And document the mini projects and excursions of a TTT "tentative tai tai" in Singapore (unfortunately having a baby on board means limited travel, though a babymoon is in the cards). Importantly, I want to record my quirks on the pregnancy - the milestones, keeping fit while pregnant, and getting prepared to be responsible for another being the next 18 years. 

While it's unlikely I will turn into one of those babyzillas anytime soon(I love my sashimi too much), please bear with my bump pictures which I WILL post, simply because I can't wait to sprout the bump (I just feel fat right now). Leaving you with a photo I took while out jogging the other day. Probably by a guy wanting to impress a girl but I'm stealing it hah!