Dreams and Reality: National Museum of Singapore

Disclaimer: I know nuts about paintings and art. Like, zilch. 

But, even then, I'm a strong believer that any form of art is good. So, a trip to the museum wouldn't hurt you. In fact, I think it will be not-very-smart to read this review, dismiss it and not visit the museum. For the very simple reason that this exhibition contains over 140 works (paintings, photographs and drawings) from Musee d'Orsay. You don't even need to book an air ticket to Paris to view these works- right at your door step. Don't wait till you miss it, then start to regret.

If you have the extra $$$ to spare and you enjoy music, I think it's worth it to go for Music at an Exhibition next January. Personally, I think it's overpriced ($48, including handling fee). However, it's worth it because it is by high profile and excellent artists such as Melvyn Tan, Dennis Lee + Toh Chee Hung, Albert Tiu and the T'ang Quartet.

Just like how you have perfect wine and cheese pairings, I think art and music have their perfect pairings as well. The works performed are those which are closely connected to the Impressionist movement. The most prolific composers of them will be featured, including Debussy and Ravel. I think some things come with age and this impressionistic flavour slowly grew on me although I didn't really appreciate them in my younger days.

I'm embedding Debussy's Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun and Clair de Lune, just to give you a flavour of what you'll be looking at. There are many great impressionistic works out there, and a simple google + youtube search will give you a better idea. Composers such as Liszt and Bizet will also be performed at the museum.





I found this rather captivating the first time I saw it. I'm the kind of person who can't appreciate art pieces and I'll just hover around those that capture my eyes. This is the Young Woman on the Beach by Philip Wilson Steer. If only art works speaks to me like music does. Till then, I'd appreciate it if somebody can enlighten me on how best to appreciate art!

This is an impressionistic piece by Monet, Regatta at Argenteuil.

Saving the best for the last, the very familar picture- Starry Night by Van Gogh. Won't it be cool if they performed Starry, Starry Night by Don McLean as one of the musical works?

If you are a kid (6 years and below- although unlikely since you're reading this blog), senior citizen (Singaporean and PR 60 years old and above), student (with valid student pass), it's free for you. So, there's no excuse for you. If you do not belong to the category, entrance fee is only $11 and you get to see the rest of the exhibitions in the museum as well. Never too late to step into a museum! And just to remind you, if you have the spare cash to spare, go in January for the music+art pairing! It will definitely be an unforgettable experience!


Dreams and Reality
Masterpieces of Painting, Drawing and Photography from the Musee d'Orsay, Paris
National Museum of Singapore
93 Stamford Road
Singapore 178897

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Strictly Pancakes

I went to Strictly Pancakes on my own  (yes, I'm a loner) on a Friday afternoon. By the way, just a mini rant, I'm hoping one day servers will stop giving me the pitiful look and say, "Oh.. for one..." Anyway, there was no space for me. But I have been wanting to come to Strictly Pancakes for so long, that it just didn't make sense if I didn't try it, even with the negative reviews online. So, I decided to make do with sitting outside. 

I ordered a Garlic Buttered Prawns ($14++), which according to the description, is a medium stack served with prawns buttered generously with garlic and cherry tomato salad on the side for an aromatic, mouth-watering treat. Buttered generously, yes. (Just look that pancakes swimming in the sea of butter!) Prawns were small and there were only a few, although the prawns were chewy and fresh. Truth to be said, I actually prefer Mcdonald's pancakes. The pancakes here are fluffy, but they are a little dry. 

I'm pretty sure the butter and garlic is supposed to seep into the pancake but it sounded a little too overwhelming and I decided to pour some maple syrup over it instead. The sweetness reduced some of the gelatness of the garlic butter. And needless to say, I didn't apply any of the butter provided. Butter + more butter = ?? 

Service wise, I didn't get the poor service that many people got but it was not like their service was anything to shout about- decent I guess. I wouldn't pay this price to eat pancakes there again. I'd rather go to Mcdonald's and then add whatever stuff I want to it- probably at half the price. But for the novelty, and for satisfying my long-time craving, fine. 

Strictly Pancakes 

44A Prinsep Street
Singapore 188674
Tel: 6333 4202

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Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother

If you have a tiger mother and you have no idea what to buy for her this christmas, get your hands on Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, wrap it up nicely and give it to your mother. But this is only on the precondition that you are sure that she wouldn't treat it as a guidebook and starts dishing out the antics of Amy Chua one by one on you. If what she does surpasses Amy Chua, then get her this book to subtly tell her  to go easy on you. 

This is a very relaxing and easy read. It talks about different characters in her life, including her husband, her in-laws, her two daughters, her parents and sisters and her dog. And of course, the spotlight is put on her two children, Sophia and Louisa (Lulu), who are portrayed as they are under some dictatorship of sorts. So, they are not allowed to be in a school play, choose their own curricular activities, not play the piano or violin (or rather, to excel in it) etc. 

The publication of this book brought to the front issues of parenting between Asians (using this term very loosely) and Westerners. An excerpt of this could be seen on the Wall Street Journal Article, Why Chinese Mothers are Superior. Well, for all the disparaging comments that this book has gathered (mainly attacking her, not her writing), it needs to be emphasised that this is not a parenting book. It divided parents into two camps- the Amy Chua and the anti-Amy Chua camp. 

At the end of day, whichever camp you belong to, just treat this with a pinch of salt. It's afterall just meant to be an entertaining read! 

p.s. Came across the youtube link below and it was pretty amusing. I added this here, perhaps as a justification for Amy Chua's methods. For a person who threw a birthday card back to her daughter as it was poorly drawn, I'm quite sure she would not have allowed any of these reactions to happen. 

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SBS Driver Takes Passengers for a Ride

When I first saw this news circulating on facebook, I tried hard to stifle a chuckle. I'm sure if I were on the bus, I would be silently cursing. But the funny part is that the bus driver was unlucky enough to have a reporter on his bus.

According to the news report on Channel 8, the bus driver tried to avoid a traffic jam somewhere and took a different route but he ended up getting lost and left the passengers stuck in the bus for 2 hours. A few people offered to give directions but the driver said that he had to listen to the directions given by the Control Station. 

It's not like I want to start lamenting about how there are continual price hikes for public transport, long waiting times for buses (I don't see how waiting for 25 minutes for a bus is acceptable), and increasing dangerous driving. I recognise the great convenience that the continual improvement of public transport brings, including the Circle Line. 

But, if I really had something urgent, I would need to get to my destination, probably under two hours by bus. Take a taxi, you say? That's right. Oh, but they are revising their fares too! 

Get a car? That's a solution... but COE is now rocket high! 

Best solution: Walk. This is all in the grand scheme of things- you become healthy by walking, you leave no carbon footprints and you can save money too!

As Selina in 小孩不笨 says, "It is all for your own good!" 

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Big Bad Wolf

I found the silhouette of Big Bad Wolf really intriguing, and that was probably what drew me to having a gathering of 14 here. This is kind of a pub cum eatery kind of place, and it's really chill. I appreciated that they arranged the tables for us before we arrived as we made reservations earlier on. 

I was tempted to have the portabello mushroom burger but ended up with the Chicken & Mushroom Burger. I can't really remember how I finished the burger because all I remembered was the good company. 

But for what I remembered of the burger, the fries tasted like they were seasoned with something. I asked my friends what it tasted like but they replied that it was just me who tasted some seasoning and instead, it tasted just like normal fries. As for the chicken, it was tender and i like the combination of mushroom and chicken! Again, I had trouble figuring out the exact content of the sauce. It tasted like... mushroom sauce with butter? This is a dish of secret ingredients... Can't figure out what they are! Although the portion looked small, a few of us walked away feeling super full. 

In all, this place is a great place to chill and hang out. There's no air-con though, so it got a little stuffy halfway through the meal. The decor in this place was really cute too- chairs with seat covers complete with the big bad wolf motif. And little christmasy decorations. Oh, and there is no GST or service charge (you get the water on your own). So the price you see on the menu is what you pay!

p.s. We had a mini discussion on what Big Bad Wolf meant. While I assumed it was the one in Red Riding Hood, another friend said it was the one in Three Little Pigs. What's your take?

Big Bad Wolf 

226 Tanjong Katong Road
Tel: +65 6346 6858

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Moi Lum Restaurant 梅林

This place speaks of homeliness, not only in the dishes they serve, but also the way you are treated by the people who manage this place. It was quite strange because the place was rather empty during lunch time on a Saturday. There were only 4 or 5 tables occupied.

For starters, this place doesn't serve peanuts but prawn crackers instead! 

The crispy chicken is their specialty and it definitely lives up to his name. Crispy exterior and a moist interior- How do they do it? And the skin is not even fatty, so you can console yourself with that fact if you decide to eat the skin. It goes well with the salt or chilli sauce.

We also ordered a plate of broccoli with mushrooms which was pretty ordinary.

Another two dishes we ordered were the salted egg yolk spring roll and the braised pork. I don't really like salted egg yolk but this was quite mild, so that's fine. As for the braised pork, it was flavourful and when I was eating, my mum was like, "THE COLLAGEN, THE COLLAGEN!" No wonder she ordered it.

Overall, I would say that this place is pretty good. We paid around $78 for 5 people for 4 dishes, which is quite decently. I think the food is not bad, but not good enough for me to rave about it. But, coupled with the attentiveness of the people in the restaurant, maybe I will up the lure of this restaurant by one level.

Afterall, when I was fussing over how cool this device is, one of the waiters said, "Go ahead and try it! It's okay!" And then an eruption of "OHHHH" ensued after he pressed it for us to see how it sees, probably because he saw that we were kind of shy to press it just for kicks. This kind of personal touch- priceless.

Moi Lum Restaurant 梅林
38 Maxwell Road
#01-01/02 Airview Building
Singapore

Tel: 62262283

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We Need to Talk About Kevin

After reading this book in a few days, all it gave me was a headache. Don't get me wrong, the prose was beautifully written. But sometimes too much of a good thing can be a bad thing, and this happens to be one of them. The book is thick, probably because Lionel Shriver tries very hard to drive home the point that Kevin is nothing but a disaster. At the same time, she tries to paint his mother (or Mumsey), Eva, as a person who sees nothing good in him, and his father, Franklin, who appears to be very much deluded. She also later has a daughter, Celia, who is someone Eva treasures a lot, partly due to her need to communicate with someone.

Well, if I say anymore, there may potentially be spoilers, which will definitely ruin the read, especially since the surprising bits only appear towards the end of the story. To put it in a nutshell, Kevin is some teenager who went on a high school massacre. He has displayed traits of a sociopath since young, where Eva is adamant that he is just evil and Franklin denies Eva's suspicions, leading to a subsequent crack in their marriage. This book is a series of letters written by Eva to her husband.

To quote Eva, "You can only subject people to anguish who have a conscience. You can only punish people who have hopes to frustrate or attachments to sever; who worry what you think of them. You can really only punish people who are already a little bit good."

Plenty of quote-worthy material in Lionel Shriver's writings- beautiful. But unfortunately, as though she was drawing in circles, she could have skipped a few parts here and there and it would not have made a difference. I speed read through the middle because it got a little dry and dreary. Content wise, I'm not sure if this reflects the personality profile of a high school shooter in reality. But, in all, I think one of the prevailing themes is, of all the concerns that parents have about having kids, who ever thinks that one day their kid might be a murderer? 

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Out of The Pan

It's really strange how I haven't eaten at Out of The Pan, given that it's been there for so many years. But there's always a first because we were there to celebrate a friend's birthday. There was a 1-for-1 promotion (for savoury crepes) if you use your UOB card. (Please check details for the promotion- I kind of suspect it doesn't apply from Friday-Sunday but I may be wrong.) 

I ordered a Peking Duck Crepe ($15.50). The description stated that it had sambal olek, roasted duck and lychees. I had no idea what sambal olek was, but I just figured that it would be kind of spicy. But the spice wasn't overwhelming. The duck was moist, so that was good. I wished the lychee's taste could shine more in this dish though. I could taste it on its own, but it didn't complement the peking duck as well as it could have. For those who worry about not having their veggie quota fulfilled, there's a heap of lettuce inside (which I love), and a side of salad (the dressing is a little too sour for me). Overall, this dish felt like it was trying to achieve something more than the normal, but didn't really succeed at it. Nonetheless, it was pretty decent.

Service was nothing to shout about. They only gave us iced water upon our second request at the end of our meal. One of them looked like I owed him money, but another lady waitress was very pleasant.

Only go there if you have the UOB Card and you have multiples of 2 to go with you, if you can't share an extra plate amongst the people eating. A friend and I shared the Korean pork one because there were three of us. (The Korean Pork crepe is worth trying, although we did not finish it because we were super full by then.) Otherwise, you could be better off battling the crazy Raffles City crowd somewhere else.

Out of The Pan 
Raffles City Shopping Centre

252 North Bridge Road
#B1-45
Tel: +65 6431 6103

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Trader's Hotel (Kuala Lumpur)

This hotel is one of the best I have stayed at in a long time. I think what stands out most clearly is the excellent service standards of the staff. Everybody from the housekeeping department to the counter staff are extremely helpful. They take the initiative to make sure that you're well taken care of and the staff, no matter what position, are very polite.

The room itself was decent and clean, albeit a little small. There was a fantastic view of the Twin Towers (request for it when booking if possible) where we managed to catch some fireworks one night. Oh and one thing I noted, the free shampoo and conditioner they provided were of good quality. They were unlike the usual hotel shampoo which makes your hair tangle like a big mess.

The best has to be the breakfast. This is the largest array of breakfast I have ever seen. It ranged from Asian food to Western food to asian food to salad bars etc. There is even a small section of gluten free food, including muffins and cakes. There is also the vegetarian option. I could have stayed here for a day if not for the fact that I kind of didn't go to KL just to enjoy the breakfast. 

There is also free afternoon tea (I'm not sure what booking option that was) but you could probably check it out. They had a small selection of pastries and high tea selections. You could choose a window seat and you will be able to have a good view of the landscape of KL. 

The location is great too. You can walk to Suria KLCC or take a buggy there. The walk is pretty short, you can take the route outside or walk through the convention centre on rainy days. While it may be a little further to Lot 10 and the likes, it's still pretty near and we managed to walk there. Don't believe your taxi drivers when they tell you it's very far. We have got at least 3 taxi drivers telling us it is far and we ended up reaching there in under 20 minutes. Also, if you take a taxi and don't mind taking the non-metered taxis, request to the hotel staff not to take the blue cab because the blue cab may be slightly more expensive, although probably more reliable and comfortable. 

While it's not exactly the cheapest option, I think it's good value given the proximity to Suria KLCC, the good service and the yummy breakfast.

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Melting Pot Cafe

This place was so shocking, I don't even know where I should begin. The thing is, I normally don't find  faults with buffets because there is a large variety, and you can pick and choose from whatever you like/don't like. The problem arises when you don't even have a choice.

When you first enter, you are greeted by what you see in the picture below. Pretty impressive, till you get the real picture.

The real picture is that all you have is a salad station, a seafood station (that comprises SOLELY of prawns and mussels), a satay and pasta section where the chefs cook it for you (more gripes to come very soon), a dessert section, a hot food section (curry, chicken, vegetables etc.) and dessert section. The variety was so painfully limited that I was done after two plates. 

The fact that the variety was so limited was worsened by the fact that the food was not replenished. It's not that often that I'll be able to take such pictures of food where it's constantly nearly empty. Afterall, in the better buffet places, the chefs walk around to check whether there's enough food left and the food is always replenished. 

And then there's the satay station. Seriously, you will spend more time queueing for satays than eating at your table. It does not make sense for the plate to be constantly empty. Singaporeans love their satays and this we know. So wouldn't it be more logical to do the satay in the kitchen then bring them out since they will probably be piping hot when swept away? There was this boy and his brother who swept away two rounds of the amount of satay sticks you see below. That's probably about 40 satays. And the rest of us behind are like left waiting, waiting and waiting... 

You know how some times, when you go out with friends, and then they start gossiping about a friend you know, but not that well. Then you really want to find something nice to say about that person because he/she really isn't as bad as they think they are? This is the approach I normally take to writing food reviews in order to provide a balanced view. 

I tried harder than in other entries- and here's it: The black forest cake tasted like black forest cake.

And there's a pretty christmas tree outside the restaurant.

So much for an attempt to write something better. In any case, it was $38++, and therefore around $45 per person for the buffet. Totally not worth it, you are better off trying other buffets like Rendezvous, Spice Brasserie or Asian Market. Service was not bad, but I obviously won't go somewhere just for the service if I could get better food and equally good service elsewhere.

Melting Pot Cafe
317 Outram Road
4F Holiday Inn Atrium
Singapore
Tel: +65 6731 7172

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Guide: Why you should travel solo

Unlike in the past where it would take several days to reach somewhere in the vicinity by taking a boat, an aeroplane is all it takes to fetch us from one destination to another. So, youngsters are increasingly getting the point- that travelling is much less of a hassle than what it used to be. Therefore, they should vie for every opportunity to travel. Afterall, youth comes by once in a lifetime only.

So, they go in groups because there is safety in numbers. I'm not denying that people should travel in groups because there is much joy in company. But I find it equally compelling that people should dare to venture solo as well. Of course, my words don't hold water because I've only ventured out once, unlike many people who do solo travelling all around the world. But this post is for people who are bogged down by the inertia to travel solo. If you are one of them, hopefully this post convinces you enough to overcome your inertia and to venture a first brave step out to exploring a world you never knew.

p.s. I found a statute of Confucius in Quebec (not in Chinatown)- See how interesting things are?

Here are some reasons why people should travel solo at some point in life.

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Guide: What to do in Kuala Lumpur in Three Days

The first thing that popped into my mind when thinking of what to do in Kuala Lumpur was shop. The second thing was shop. And so and so forth. Maybe I would insert "eat" somewhere in between the "shop". For the posts on eating, please click here (you'd have to do some filtering though because some of the KL posts do not involve eating).

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Three Cups of Tea; Three Cups of Deceit

I wrote this blog post about Three Cups of Tea a pretty long time ago, more than 2 years ago. Below is an almost exact review done for Three Cups of Tea (with slight grammatical changes) because sometimes it just doesn't do justice when you try to refresh your memory and risk distorting some facts. I'll then compare this against Three Cups of Deceit.

Three Cups of Tea (3 August 2009)

I read this book almost two months ago, but the message that this book brings across is still strong and fresh. In fact, it opens your eyes to many things that we neglect, in the war against terrorism- not everybody is a radical, that many of them crave for a chance to get an education, that many of us get without any effort. It's education that will transform the minds of the students.

The author is a true hero, who braved extremely dangerous places, during dangerous times. Despite this, he trudges on, with the meagre amount of money that he had raised, selling all his belongings, to fulfil his promise of building schools. The hospitality that the locals showed to him as an appreciation of his tremendous efforts was also a display of fierce loyalty to him.

From a mountaineer who failed in an expedition, to someone who is actively involved in raising money to build schools in these impoverished areas, he is truly one capable of overcoming the highest peaks in his own conquer of life's challenges. An inspiring read.

Three Cups of Deceit (1 December 2011)

I bought this book for three reasons. 1) It was sold at $6 at Border's closing down sale. 2) I enjoyed Jon Krakauer's Banner of Heaven. 3) I thought it will be quite interesting how somebody I thought was inspiring turned out to be a cheat.

Of course, I think it's important to have an open mind and not conclusively decide whether before or after reading the book whether Mortenson was or was not a cheat. There are many things that we are not privy to and coming to a conclusion without the necessary clarifications probably isn't the best way to go.

Anyway, more about this book. I found Krakauer's Under the Banner of Heaven to be a wonderful read, not because it was thrilling or anything. But because I had a very strong sense when reading it that he puts a lot of effort into research. Of course I can't vouch for the authenticity of his research, but at least it seems that he knows his stuff (Note: His non-fiction works have been criticised to some degree). And it provided a great insight into Mormon history, but that's a story best left to another day.

By the way, just a tip, you can probably avoid paying so much money for such a thin book by clicking on this link, which gives even more updates since the book got published. But it might be a great cause to buy the book because the proceeds go to the "Stop Girl Trafficking" project.

Basically, Krakauer tore Mortenson's story apart and found flaws with his stories. And it is how, using Krakauer's words, "Greg Mortenson, Humanitarian Hero, Lost His Way". In the book, he  painted Mortenson as a person who was unwilling to account to the Board of Directors for the money donated to the Central Asia Institute, who increasingly did not care about the real goals of what he set out to do, and only cared about his public talks and the money that was rolling in. He spun his own stories in order to lead people to believe that he was a person who was willing to take risks for the greater good of human kind.

I have to admit that I can't take a neutral position because I tend to find Krakauer's case more convincing. I'm reluctant to deviate because I had hoped so hard that Mortenson was someone special in our midst. In any case, I think we are used to seeing initial humaniatarians or people with good intention turn to the dark side because of the lure of money- Is there such a thing as pure goodness? 

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KL Tower (Kuala Lumpur)

We went to the Menara Kuala Lumpur Tower (KL Tower) only because the Twin Towers were undergoing renovation. I should have known better than to go to KL Tower. The thing is that there is a temptation to go up to these towers, pay some entrance fee that you'd be better off not paying and then end up feeling like you just contributed to another country's economy for nothing. That was how I felt when I went to the Willis Tower in Chicago. To put in in local parlance, it's go up see see look look then come down. It's even worse if the weather is bad and all you see is clouds.

Well, KL Tower opened to the public in 1996. So that makes the tower 15 years old this year. It's a telecommunication tower for Malaysia.

The basic package (the cheapest) is 45 Ringgit for adults and 30 Ringgit for children/senior citizens. This includes entry into the observation deck, MP5 (whatever that means), Forest in the City (what's that), F1 simulator/pony ride/KL Tower Animal Zone. Evidently, I just realised when typing this post that we probably didn't go to some places that our ticket entitled us to go.

So, here's a view you can get if you're at the top. By the way, just another useful tip. If you want to take pictures with you in the picture with the scenery as background, figure out how to change your camera settings or you will appear very dark against the picture. (assuming you go in the day)

Besides the observatory, we chose the F1 simulator as part of the package. You know in arcades where there will be rows of those driving stuff and people start competing against each other? This is the worse version of the arcade. I've no idea why the place smelled so much like pee. Anyway, so why is it worse than in an arcade? In an arcade, you throw in a coin and it will start operating. Here, you have someone manually pressing on a keyboard for you to start and stop. Imagine you are halfway through a race, and suddenly she comes next to you, key in something, and tells you, "Here's your timing." Thank you very much.

(by the way, this is NEARLY RIDICULOUS. I was googling for pictures of these arcade machines when I realised that the so called F1 simulators were in the shape of cars, and not those arcade machines that we played on. DID WE JUST GET CONNED (again)?!) The below is the only thing that we saw that remotely looks like a car- do you see the simulator machines behind?

As for the pony ride, we didn't opt for that. But what happens for the pony ride, is that you have a stable with two ponies. And then someone will put you on the pony, and bring you and the pony three rounds around a stable.

All in all, KL Tower is a place you might want to go if you really want to see a good view of KL. But I have to say this place looks pretty worn out after 15 years, compared to other observatory decks that I've gone to, including the Shanghai and Chicago one. And be careful to check what you're entitled to! Plus there are two places where you can get taxis from- one cheaper than the other, although the other is probably safer.

KL Tower 

Menara Kuala Lumpur No. 2
Jalan Punchak Off Jalan P.Ramlee
Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia

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Kiki Taiwan Cuisine (Kuala Lumpur)

When we passed by Ki Ki Taiwan Cuisine, it was crowded. Singaporean mentality- If it's crowded, must be good! We waited around 15 minutes for a table and decided what we wanted to eat. 

It was a sweet and sour prawn combo plus some seafood steamboat where the seafood has already been cooked. The prawns for the sweet and sour prawns were not fresh, what a pity. I know the prawns look like pork, but no, this restaurant is apparently pork free.

We also ordered another seafood steamboat to share. As you can tell, there are prawns, chicken, crab stick, fishcake, sotong ball, dong fen, clams etc. The soup base was pretty good- especially after all the ingredients were thrown into the steamboat. But it got increasingly salty as the soup dried up towards the end.

Overall, this place is decently priced (80 Ringgit in total) and the staff are pretty courteous as well. It's normal steamboat so you might want to hop in on a chilly day (I know there's no such thing called chilly day in KL but there are rainy days!) 

Kiki Taiwan Cuisine
Suria KLCC
Fourth Floor
Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia 

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