Showing posts with label Jurong Point. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jurong Point. Show all posts

Saturday, May 31, 2008

Ichiban Sushi, Jurong Point

It was a long & tiring week,
eventhough it meant to be a short week,
with only 4 days,
Without Monday Blues~


Who knows that there was a Mistletoe Tuesday,
Which activated the whole lab to stay OT until 9++pm,
Meaning i had a 12+hrs of lab~ T.T
With a hungry stomach waiting to be fed.


Then came Wednesday which was disastrous,
Got reprimanded by my Big Boss,
For not practicing GLP,
Caught Red-Handed, My bad~ T.T


Then came Thursday,
Without much of a hiccup,
Beside not closing the column door properly,
Causing fluctuation of temperature of my HPLC~ T.T


Here it came, lonely Friday,
Which i thought it was,
FYP haunting my friends,
and I'm left all alone.

No that i had nothing to do,
Neither was i Bored,
Just feeling too tired,
Staying in NTU all week long.


A call at 4+pm changed it all,
Delighted, heart leaping in joy!
"I am GOING OUT!!! On a Friday NIGHT!!"
After all, I am not alone.


Finally, I have a date, on a Friday night...

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Where to meet? A simple Question.
We are the West People and We are Tired.
Simple Answer. Boonlay.
Very straight forward.


It is the second time.
One-on-one.
I was the one waited,
On both occasions.


I am not complaining.
Cos he is a dear friend of mine.
Holding a special position.
That it is not easily shaken.


Primary & secondary schoolmate,
We were in the class of 2(3),
With Jesing as monitor,
Lu Yean & I were the Asst Monitresses.



Those were the days...


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Two tired people with lots to catch up.
Three meals in school/workplace.
We share such similarity.
It's time for some Food Comfort.


Japanese Food was our choice,
Dining of two made things even easier.
Skip the step of waiting for a table,
Table for two is easily available. *Yay*

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Vegetable Roll SGD$2.10

A refreshing dish. Covered with sesame and bits of dried seaweed, and crunchy french beans, corn, carrot & cucumber in the center.

I gotta shout, " I am loving it~"



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Ebiko Temaki @ SGD$2.10

Yup, it's a Temaki, but not with the normal seaweed wrap that you see. It's wrapped with crepe. Together with the crunchy salad leaf & the fried bacon stripe, i never know temaki can taste so GOoooD!!!


Maybe is the bacon... Maybe it's the Ebiko... Or maybe, it's because of the mayo they added that makes all the different. Or maybe, it's the cheapest of them all, the salad leaf???


Who knows?
But i fell in love with bacon for the first time.


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Unagi with Cheese Sushi @ SGD$ 3.90

I gotta shout, I gotta Shout, I gotta SHOUT!!!
This is not the ordinary thinly-sliced-until-u-can't-taste kind of Unagi. This is the premium Unagi that you get on the Unagi Don!!!

The thick flesh of Unagi melting in your mouth before it burst into its full flavour. Enhanced with the flavour from the sliced Cheddar cheese&seaweed hidden between the Japanese rice, who could resist the heavenly-match sushi?


Especially to someone who loves both Unagi and cheese...

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Inari Sushi @ SGD$2.10

A typical Inari Sushi caught my friend's attention. Nothing uncommon but nothing to complain about. It's just Inari Sushi.


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Curry Chicken Katsu Don @ SGD$11.90

Jim Jim always wanted to try Japanese Curry. To his surprise (dismay perhaps?), he says it tasted exactly like the "ah neh's curry" aka indian curry when he was studying in UK. A tiny weeny bit of spice, more of the sweet curry. For me, its taste is comparable to the Japanese stall in the food court in NTU.

Hmm... I like it, i like Japanese Curry. But if i can pay 1/3 of the price here to eat the exact dish in NTU minus the two slices of oranges and the bowl of miso soup, why should i order this out of school? *i wonder, wonder*


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Both of us were too full to have any dessert,
though the tempura ice-cream was calling,
and fiesta Japanese cheesecake is whistling,
"Jojo, Jojo, aren't we lovely?"


Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,
On a Friday night,
It seems like a date,
With a primary schoolmate.


"I scare I'll fall asleep in the cinema" i was told,
Came out with lots of Q's marks in his head,
I felt bad to drag him for a show,
Which he didn't know what was going on.


Thank Q Jim Jim for the treat,
A lovely Friday evening indeed.
I am glad i have you,
As a friend who come to my rescue.

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JOjo is very happy,
Cos I got my R square = 1.
Although my error bar "sucks",
I still thank God,
Cos I got R square equals to 1.
*Grinning away*

Thursday, January 24, 2008

A Cuppa Warmth My Heart Away

It's a bright Saturday morning, surprisingly. It has been raining for more than a week now. Most of the time, it will start raining at around 11am, until the next day. From drizzling from heavy downpour, it just couldn't stop raining.

OOps...Here comes the rain at 2pm. Haha, speak of the devil hah!

Had a good night sleep despite waking up at 3.30am, feeling nausea. It must be the cake and milk from the night before. My stomach couldn't take creamy stuff (come to think about ice-cream and cheesecake) since my diarrhoe last Sunday. I think I probably should keep myself away from the sweet bites for the time being.

It has been a really boring week. Day-in and day-out from work. I wasn't in the mood of working out in the gym. Too lazy to go swimming. Feeling even more lethargy with the rainy weather. Just feel like snuggle in my not-too-warm blanket.

Here comes Friday. Yeah, time for a movie. Alvin and the Chipmunks seems like a good choice. Indeed, it was a happy movie. Bring a smile for everyone sitted in the theatre, including me, especially Me holding the sweet popcorn in my hand!

Popcorn does fill you up! It did, at least to me. I haven't been feeling too well, especially appetite wise. Eating a little fills me up. I merely had 1/4 of the popcorn, or slightly more and I didn't have space for dinner.

In the end, decided to have a slice of cake at Coffee Bean. Looking at their cake selection, the cake-gluttony in me was awaken! Mixed-berries Meringue, Chocolate Toblerone, Traditional Carrot Cake, Christmas Pudding and Log Cake etc. were calling out for me. I wanted to try their carrot cake for some time for now but the Mixedberries Meringue is for a litmited season only, i think. So i ordered the meringue. I wanted to try their Chocolate Toblerone as well, but i was going to have the cake on my own. Looking at my condition, i doubt my stomach could take it (no space, no appetite, even for my fav cake!). So the Mixed-Berries Meringue was the only order.

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My friend ordered a cup of Hot Caramel Latte which was very rich. I love Coffee Bean's Coffee! Simply delicious.


The slice of cake came with a little reindeer on it. To my dismay, the slice of cake was spoilt, at the center portion where the mixedberries were. The berries was too moist, i supposed, which led to the spoilage of the slice. Brought it to the attention of the barista, they exchanged a new slice at no cost.

The Mixed-Berries Meringue, with rasberry and strawberry (hope i didn't miss out any) in the middle was tasty nonetheless. The layer of not that soft sponge cake in the middle didn't appeal to my palate. The thick and generous layer of creamcheese layer didn't fail to satisfy me. But a tad too sweet even for my high sweet tolerance. The layer of meringue tasted a little like marshmallow.

In case you don't know what is meringue, it means a delicate, frothy mixture made with beaten egg whites and sugar or hot syrup, and browned, used as a topping for pies, pastry, etc.

After tasting the cup of caramel latte, i couldn't resist but to order a cup of non-caffeine drink. Didn't feel like having any dose of caffeine. I couldn't decide to have hot chocolate or hot vanilla. Hot vanilla which tasted more like a cup of sweetened milk was my choice.

I LOVE MILK! i must say... I hadn't been drinking any dairy product after my diarrhoe and fever last Sunday. Been drinking Teh-O from Canteen A. The vanilla wasn't distinct but the foamy milk was lovely. I love the feeling on savouring a cup of warm milk on a cold winter night.

Oops...No winter in Singapore. It's cold rainy night. The warm, closed to hot cup of milk sent warmth down my spine, right into my heart, keeping me warm inside out. I think a cup of warm yummy milk keep the loneliness of staying in Singapore without my family at bay. I always remember my dad would always make me a cup of hot milk (from Fernleaf milk powder) at night when i was young or when i couldn't get to sleep. Missing home again...



Sometimes, things just do not change even after two and a half years.



I still miss home.

Self Enjoyment when I'm Alone

But, I was hungry... and actually i was craving for something...

TUNG YUAN !!!

I couldn't resist my craving. It led me to Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao. If it was my oldself, before i had the current job, i wouldn't even have the thought of coming to Crystal Jade. I must count everything to the cents before i spend. Seriously, I really thank God for blessing me in every area of my life, financially, friends, church etc. I'm so much more blessed financially than i used to be two and a half years ago when i first came to Singapore.


Digress... That's another story all together. Anyway, served and sitted, the waitress was suprised i was alone. Seldom she sees people coming alone, i supposed.


Sitted and started looking around, La Mian and Xiao Long Bao are the most frequent ordered dishes. Stomach growling. Feeling slightly hungry. Browsing through the menu. La mian was calling out for me but i doubted, i was almost 100% certain i couldn't finish one bowl when i'm hungry. Let alone i wasn't that hungry! Suddenly i missed my eating partner, who could wallop almost everything that I couldn't finish.


After some good 5-10 mins, i sticked back to my original plane. I ordered 姜茶汤圆 Sweet Glutinous Dumpling in Ginger Soup $3.50, served hot. I waited for almost 10-15 mins for its arrival. As usual, took some picture while waiting. Again i took the picture of it before i started consuming it. Hardcore blogger. New found interest in blogging ok?


Here you go...

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姜茶汤圆 Sweet Glutinous Dumpling in Ginger Soup came with only two glutinous tang yuan in it. *disappointed* I thought there should be three. Not sure. Never eaten.


The ginger soup was concentrated and slightly oversweet but with a very nice fragrance in it. Nice and delicious nontheless. The ginger soup tasted tangyly fresh and it was brown in colour. I supposed they cooked the ginger soup upon order using fresh ginger (by pounding it?) and they used brown or red sugar instead of the nromal white sugar. The 汤圆 tang yuan was soft with black sesame fillings and the skin wasn't too thick. It was made closed to perfection. Most probably it was handmade tang yuan because most packet tang yuan's skin were too thin and they couldn't hold the ingredients inside so the paste would burst out upon the first bite. This one, you could still chew the QQ skin made with glutinous rice flour.


A simple hot dessert that had won my heart over since young!

It was a pleasant me and myself session. I had a good time with myself, with lots of window shopping and eating one of my favourite food. I love my simple way of life.


Who says one can't have fun with oneself ???

Full entry on this can be found here http://jojo185.blogs.friendster.com/joannas_life/2007/12/self_enjoyment_.html

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao @ Jurong Point

So who's Jim, our beloved Ah Jim??



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Ah Jim



He's my primary schoolmate, my secondary schoolmate, my badminton kaki, Yum-Cha kaki, a friend in whom I trust, someone i can pour my heart out, a friend who cares, a friend who loves and a friend who will accompany you all the lonely days when no one else is back in KLUANG!!! Lol... The best part of all, Ah Jim is a homely guy who loves to cook! *common point* Always trying to "invent" his new dish, eg: a pita-taste-a-like pizza??? According to him, his record is cooking a total of 70 near to 80 meals in UK. He did all the cooking for his hostelmates during his stay there. He was the only cook.



Oh, did i mentioned that he knows how to make Rojak? To the uninitiated, rojak by definition is a mixed salad. Chinese Rojak usually consists of pineapples, cucumbers, sengkuang (turnip), kangkong, sotong (squid or cuttlefish) and Yu Tiao (fried fritters) covered with peanut crumb and dark sauce made of shrimp paste.Hhmm... Mamak rojak contains fried fritters, cucumbers, sengkuang (turnip), hard boiled eggs and sliced cuttlefish. A spicy peanut sauce is then poured over the rojak. Ah Jim is also capable of making Tang Yuen, a glutinous rice ball with peanut filling. Both are my favourite past time food!



On Tuesday night, 30th Oct,

"I'll be going to Changi for interview at 2.00pm"



"Go out leh, we go for dinner."



"Ok. Where and what time?"



"Jurong Point lo, nearer to me"



"Ok lo. Contact you through my sis' hp that day"

End of story. That's how we ended up going out together and Ah Jim was late for an hour! (how can a guy let a girl wait for an hour at mrt interchange???) Ah Jim was late with valid reason and we were really good buddy, so i didn't mind waiting for him. He was the guest and he got to choose. After giving him a few suggestions, with two desperate hungry stomach to feed, he laid his eyes on Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao.



Waited for almost 20 minutes for a table. The whole place was jam-packed during dinner hour. This was the third visit to the restaurant, i was still quite unfamiliar of what they've got to offer. The pictures in the menu gave us the rough ideas how the dishes look like. The indecisiveness in us couldn't come to a conclusion of what to order. After some time of struggle, I saw the promotion leaflet at the side of the table. $26.80 (before tax and GST) for a set meal for two which includes a starter (cold dish), a main, a rice/noodle and a dessert or specialty. Should have seen the promo earlier, save us the trouble of thinking what to eat.



This is what we ordered



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皮蛋拌豆腐 (served cold)



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Oops, forgot the name, is some fried noodles with shredded meat and shredded black fungus.



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酸菜鱼汤



The two specialty that we ordered from the set meal was 小笼包 and we ordered one 狗不理包子on top of the set (picture not shown).



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The cold dish looked ordinary but HmmHmmm... I experienced the unique flavour of the cold dish which both Ah Jim and myself couldn't figure it out. It was more to the salty side yet sweet at the same time. Century egg with soft, melt-in-your-mouth toufu with chicken floss,spring onion and peanut topping, a twist of taste!



But the excitement ended there.



The fried noodle was ok. Nothing spectacular for a restaurant standard. The soup dish was to my liking. Served with thick Cod Fish slices, Beancurd skin-made toufu, Kiam Chay, pepper and some other spices which i couldn't identify(it tasted like some pickles which i didn't like). Xiao long bao is their specialty and there's nothing to talk about. 狗不理包子was a chinese bao (a bun with filling). The filling is, to our disappointment, same as the 小笼包 except probably more 韭菜were in it.



The bill came up to SGD$36.25. A little bit taxing for my thin purse. What to do,有朋自远方来,不亦乐乎?(Meaning: For old-time good friend's sake) But at the same time, i felt “花钱容易 赚钱难”。 For those who doesn't read Chinese, it means $ is hard to earn yet it's spent easily.



Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao (Jurong Point)

1 Jurong West Central 2
#03-18 Jurong Point
Singapore 648886
Telephone: 6790-2212



PS: My school friend bumped in us, and lots of Questions were arrowed to me that night and the day after. "Who's the guy?" "You sure he's only your friend?"



Yup, he's only my friend to those who are so concerned about me... *wink*