Project Dignity just opened up an outlet near my home!

I was on my way home earlier this evening and passed by this building at a corner of Boon Keng Road. It is bright red in color with a very large '69' on it.. Very hard to miss it👌🏼

Previously, it was some kind of recycling business, but after some months of renovation inclusive of the Covid shut down period, a new business emerged. 

As I have never came in since it was previously closed for renovation, I decided to go in to explore this new set-up. 

On the staffs' T-shirts, it seems to indicate a HK-SG kind of set-up.. Wow.. Is there Hongkie food here? 😂

The interior was well lit up and enough space between the tables with a generous view of Boon Keng Road during the evening peak traffic👍🏼

They have a central ordering system where you make your order and pay. 

The queue number I got was actually on my receipt. 

My chicken rice set came with a soup which taste so so.. The chicken was super tender.. Too tender for my liking😅

Tea was quite ok👌🏼

Added on a claypot rice, which was reasonably nice, except that it didn't present the charred rice flavour that usually comes with such orders. Well, cannot blame them because I think they don't have open fire in the outlet. 

I only got to try out 2 or 3 stalls today and I am reasonably satisfied. I will definitely come back again for more👍🏼😁

81mm High Trajectory Platoon 19th Reunion 2016

This is our tradition among this band of brothers who was assembled together since our national service days in the SAF. 

After we graduated from National Service, we will meet up for our Reunion Dinner annually. I really do not know what happened to my maths..how did it suddenly become our 19th reunion this year?

As usual, before the Reunion Dinner, we pay a visit to our fallen brother who was promoted to become the Big Commando in the Sky. We miss you!

This year, we pushed up his supply of gold, silver & currencies hoping that he will have a bigger budget to spend..

With a larger supply of incense paper, it also took us more time and effort to 'wire' the money across to him..

Next, we move on to the dinner this year..A must have for Reunion Dinner every year..Yu'Sheng!

The menu this year a bit different..

Lobster tails.

Our in-house Master Chef painstakingly preparing the dinner before the main force arrives.

Stingray and potatoes.

Just by the fact that the food was served on banana leaves already made them looked more delicious.

Big Headed River Prawns.

Beer Can Chicken.

Lobster tails.

Another shot of our Master Chef with my reflection in the wall mirror.

Final touches, flowers added!

So much work actually went into making every Lou Hei mission a success!

Some pictures you do not usually get to see..when one of your team mate is late and everyone waited for him..

I really meant that EVERYONE waited for that guy to arrive before we could start eating! How can that guy be later than Chia, our 'Late' King??

Jokes aside, it was a pretty long, busy and emo day. I am glad that we are still hanging around after 19 years. Fire Mission Platoon!

Home cooked meals - 家常便饭

A friend of mine saw my supper posting on my Facebook yesterday and invited me to join in for a home cooked lunch earlier today. Her younger brother, who was the top chef at his restaurant in Malaysia is here in Singapore to visit her and he will be the chef in charge.

I was slightly late due to the rain and road conditions, but I was just in time for lunch when I arrived at their home. First dish up, long beans with spicy chili..crunchy, spicy, cooked to the right degree and I enjoyed it!

Next up, sweet & sour meat cubes (咕噜肉), usually pork, but in this instance, it was substituted with chicken. I have always enjoyed eating sweet & sour dishes since I was a kid..this gives me a homely touch, although this was whipped up by a professional chef.. 

The soup of the day: Fish head soup made with fresh fish just purchased from this morning's market trip, the flavours were reinforced by sour plums and one sip of it immediately woke my taste buds up!

When I arrived, the host's chef was burning the claypot on the stove for this dish, some kind of braised pork ribs that melts in your mouth..awesome!

This photo below shows the fish head soup in my bowl..

To me, the star of any home cooked meals would require the staple food of Asians..Rice!

Rice is best when served piping hot, fluffy with sufficient moisture and soft..I had 2-3 bowls of rice and the food was for like for 4-5 pax..I almost finished everything and my friend was commenting that I was a big eater..My friend, if you are reading this, I don't usually eat this much for lunch! Thank you for hosting this awesome home-cooked meal!

My first attempts at wrapping Nem cuốn (Vietnamese Fresh Springroll)

I have eaten Vietnamese fresh spring rolls on a couple of occasions before, but earlier today, I had my first hand experience at wrapping it myself before consumption!

I started off with a piece of rice paper. It looks and feels like a piece of plastic initially, but after wetting the whole piece in water, it becomes soft and sticky.

Next, this is the time where you will choose and put whatever you want to eat from a selections of ingredients onto the wet rice paper. This was what I added...

Next, just roll the whole thing up very carefully..see below for my first roll..very healthy looking!

After rolling it up, dip it in a fish sauce mixture and it is ready to eat..After the first roll, I was hoping to make further improvements to my wrapping skill, so I kept rolling..

And rolling..

..and rolling...

..I wanted to make it look more delicious and at the same time, improve my wrapping skills..

This was the last roll I ate for tonight..do you think it's better than the first one I rolled?

No matter what, I really enjoyed my dinner this evening! Special thanks to all the people who made this possible! Thank you my friends!:  Cảm ơn bạn bè của tôi

Goose meat meal (可口鹅肉)

The last time I had a goose meal was when I was in my home town in Swatow, China.
It has been a long while and I must admit that you cannot really find goose meat in Singapore nowadays.
The braised goose meat at this shop near Bangkok, Thailand is delicious, however, the liver was a bit too overcooked & dry for my preference.
They way they cooked the vegetable gives me a sense of authentic traditional flavour and the bittergourd soup was great as well!
The location is just before 26 Suk Sawat.

There are wild oysters in Singapore!?

I quite enjoy eating raw oysters if I believe that they are fresh and of good quality.

From what I understand, such oysters, some still in their shells, are usually imported from the New Zealand region. I therefore, was mistaken that maybe oysters cannot grow in the Singaporean climate. 

That was until recently, I saw with my very own eyes where, and how some people managed to harvest wild oysters off the coast of Singapore! I ever saw people harvesting mussels around our coasts, but never oysters. 

While taking a stroll one day, I saw some people in bright life vests in the sea, clearing (what seemed to me) some 'rocks' off the sea walls. It was only when they brought the harvest onto shore and started chatting with me in Thai then I realized they were harvesting oysters & mussels for their own consumption.Well, I enjoyed eating raw oysters in Thailand too.

They kept going into the water and back with the next batches of oysters and mussels..that is until the Police Coast Guard came over acting on the feedback by the PUB staffs nearby. They were 'invited' onto the Police vessel for screening.

They were released with their oysters and mussels intact except for one of them who happened not to have brought along his work permit with him and the Police were unable to establish his identity that they had to bring him back to base.
So, the moral of the story..if you want to go harvest some oysters, bring your identity card with you? Maybe, but I am happily going around telling my Singaporean friends that there are enclaves of wild oysters growing in Singapore!