And I thought it would never happen

.. at least, not so soon!

J's been afraid of dogs (and cats and most animals) since being traumatized by one at an early age. We've been telling her that the best way to overcome her phobia would be to start off with a puppy.



So when she picked Jingle up and seated him in her lap, it surprised us all - J herself most of all, probably! Jingle belongs to our friend NeeCe.

Kazu Sumi-Yaki

Kazu is a cosy little yakitori joint on the fourth floor of Cuppage Plaza, and is one of my all-time favourite restaurants in Singapore.

If memory serves, the owner-chef once worked at Nanbantei, one of the oldest established yakitori restaurants in Singapore, before striking out on his own many years ago. The fact that Kazu Sumi-Yaki is still packed to the brim night after night, year after year is a strong testament to what Kazu's regulars have known for years - here be good stuff!

The clientele is varied - after-hours execs, actors and actresses, European expatriates, Japanese families, yuppie jet-setters, tai-tais, party puppets, the lot. Of lounging space there's precious little. Even though the lighting is soft and cosy, it's hard to envision a Kazu dinner being romantic by any stretch of the imagination. It's also kind of difficult to feel romanced as the smell of cooking settles into your clothes, so save that nonsense for some other time and just enjoy the food.

Here's what we had for dinner on Sunday night:

Sweet japanese cabbage, served as a complimentary appetizer. Goes well with the brown yakitori dipping sauce (no picture, unfortunately).

Two sticks of shimeji mushroom wrapped with bacon, and two sticks of asparagus wrapped with bacon. Bite into the "heads" end of the mushrooms first; if you try it the other way the "heads" will drop out. :)

Ginkgo nuts, grilled and salted. The skin of the nuts is edible. One of my favourite yakitori/robatayaki items.

Skewered shiitake mushrooms stuffed with minced chicken, and garlic-on-a-stick, nicely browned. Takes the sting out of the garlic but leaves the fragrance.

Grilled eggplant stuffed with minced chicken. Juicy and chewy, it tastes much better than it sounds. :)

We usually have the grilled squid with teriyaki (?) sauce, but decided to try the salt-dipped version this time. Having tried both, I still like the sauce version better.

Two sticks of beef (a mix-up, we ordered beef tendon) and one stick of chicken with plum (ume) paste. The beef turned out to be pretty good anyway.

Chicken meatball (tsukune), dipped in sweet sauce. Like the kind that they sell at Tori-Q, but much better - chunkier and juicier. Another regular favourite. (Truth be told, the best tsukune we've had to date was at GAN-CHAN, a small yakitori joint in Roppongi, Tokyo. But Kazu's version is still pretty darn satisfying.)

Yaki onigiri, or grilled rice ball on a stick. The one in front is smeared with miso paste, while the one at the back is soy-sauce flavoured. You'll like this if you're a fan of slightly burnt rice (fan jiew in Cantonese?).

Four sticks of chicken wings, one stick for each of us. Best candidate for squeezing a lemon slice over. What's a yakitori meal without chicken wings?

Freshly-grilled foie gras, oozing flavour, defining indulgence and promising a cardiac arrest sometime in the future. The fragrant aroma hit the senses hard, long before this dish of sin-on-sticks physically appeared our table. Both sticks were snapped up quickly upon arrival, and seconds followed soon after.

Mochi (rice flour cake?) wrapped with bacon, and grilled slowly until the mochi expands. Somewhat similar to rice crackers, but imagine chewy and sticky instead of crunchy. J and Mom love this stuff so much (so do I, actually!) that we always pre-order to make sure they don't run out.

Small green pimento peppers (shishito), grilled and salted. I like these things. They're not very spicy, which suits me just fine since I don't take to spicy stuff like chilli. Go figure.

They brought the beef tendon after realizing the mix-up with the beef order. Dad says it's great stuff, but I think I'll just take his word for it.

This Japanese sweet potato takes a long time to grill, so it's best ordered right from the start (pre-order recommended). Goes very well with slabs of chilled butter.

Need I say that we like the food?

Service is usually prompt and attentive, but sometimes there's the occasional miss and mix-up with the orders when the place gets too busy. Tea is complimentary, but if you want drinking water you'll have to order it - no freebie there.

Kazu is one place that I absolutely have to recommend to friends. It may not be the best restaurant around, not by a long stretch. But it's definitely a long-run winner to me. Don't miss out!

KAZU SUMI-YAKI
No. 5 Koek Road
#04-05 Cuppage Plaza
Tel: 6734 2492
Open 18:00-23:00
Reservations recommended

Call of nature, force of habit?

The current office spans two floors, both of which come with attached toilets. In the gents on both floors, there are two urinals - one at regular height and the other at a lower height presumably for accessibility reasons.

Coincidentally, both regular-height urinals have drainage problems; the poor sod that arrives after is usually treated to a nausea-inducing visual (and often odorous) experience. Good thing then that the lower urinals drain quickly.

Incidental observations of timing and residue indicate that certain persons insist on using the regular-height urinals when presented with the choice, despite the unpleasant consequences. And it's not like these persons are of such immense stature that it would require some serious act of contortion on their part to use the lower-height fixture - I mean come on, I'm around six feet tall and I can use it just fine.

Dorks like these should be clamped to the urinal until it drains completely. Along with the jokers that conduct loud mobile conversations while pacing around other people's desks.

Traffic-stopping commotion

Heard some loud shouting coming from downstairs while we were having a meeting at the office. Wantunn put his head to the window to take a look and uttered an exclamation; in a heartbeat the rest of us rushed over to see.

Some weird guy with visible tattoos on his body was standing bare-chested right smack in the middle of North Bridge Road, right in front of a double-decker bus, making wild kung-fu poses and waving his arms and legs madly. It was evident that the bus had tried to get around him, and also obvious that he'd moved accordingly to block its progress. Traffic slowed to a crawl as other nervous vehicles attempted to edge past without attracting attention.

By the time Ducky and I managed to retrieve our cameras, the fellow had changed his target to the BMW in the shot above. With one foot planted firmly on the car's bonnet, he gesticulated wildly, dishing out intimidating poses and stares and refusing to budge, as if daring the driver to step on the accelerator.

weirdie and the BMW - more gesticulation, originally uploaded by varf.

After several minutes of impasse, the man inexplicably squatted in front of the BMW, cradling his head in his arms. He then slowly stood up and moved to the side to let the car pass, clasping his hands together and bowing like some Kung Fu/Shaolin monk who's just had the honour of dueling with a famous martial artist.

weirdie and the BMW - bowing out of the way, originally uploaded by varf.

The police came after a while and brought him to the side of the road for questioning.

weirdie gets taken to the lobby, originally uploaded by qoomonster.

Was it drugs or too much to drink? Or just pure lunacy? We'll probably never know.

Relaxation and relief

I haven't felt such relief at passing solid motion in a long time. There wasn't much stool - not surprising given the porridge and soft food diet of the last six days - but at least it wasn't watery.

Saturday was terrible, as fever, fatigue and dizzyness set in despite frequent naps and being mostly inactive. Today, the headaches and temperature are gone, and my body isn't aching anymore, but with a couple of taps on the tummy J proclaims that there's plenty of gas left in my colon. I'd better go easy on the food this week.

Spent most of the weekend at home resting, catching up on One Piece from the beginning, and taking turns solving Super Puzzle Bobble 2 puzzles with J.

Speaking of which, I should do an entry on games soon just for memories' sake, before mine completely deserts me.

It started with a fish

It started with a fish, just one miserable piece of under-thawed batter-fried cod fillet on Monday night.

That night, stomach heaved and gut churned, heralding the imminent arrival of the dread Dire Rear. I sought to contain it within the ivory walls of the Bowl, but even the combined powers of Harpic and The Glade could not entirely suppress its dark, miasmic presence.

"That stinks," said J, "if it doesn't get better, you'll have to see the doctor tomorrow."

"Yes dear," said I.

Ok, so The Glade was pure embellishment, but diarrhoea kept me grounded and clutching my gut for the last two days. Not quite so bad as last year's bout, but enough to pummel me into a bed-chair-sofa existence. The doc dealt out the usual cards - symptomatic medication, rest, water, no oily stuff, stick to plain porridge.

Damned sickness takes the wind right out of your sails.

Meow.

meow., originally uploaded by varf.

Stray cat that just woke up from a nap on the rack of an old bicycle.

Miss U Cafe

miss u cafe, originally uploaded by varf.

A couple of weeks ago, I'd read about the Miss U Cafe at Simpang Bedok and had wanted to give it a shot, but I'd forgotten to grab the address, directions or phone number on the way out of the house.

This time, we went with friends who'd been there recently.

The cafe itself is dimly lit, sporting a cake/coffee/ice-cream counter that serves New Zealand All Natural ice-cream, several comfy-looking sofas for lounging, two PCs in the corner which I presume provide quick websurfing access, and a good number of tables, two of which are already occupied as we are shown to our table, with smiles.

I was eyeing the ham and mushroom pizza, one of the menu's "star recommendations", but unfortunately they'd run out. So I settled for the Hawaiian instead, which surprised me by being laced with pesto sauce (I think). Not your everyday combination, but it did work rather well.

J ordered german pork sausages from the finger food section, sliced thinly and served with a mustard dip. Juicy, tasty and oozing oil, but a little bit too salty, would probably go well with beer. The other two guys both picked the lamb chops, which looked disgustingly good. I am so going to try that next time.

We'll be back.

Miss U Cafe (and Wine Shop)
14 Jalan Pari Burong
Singapore 488680
Tel: 6243.6266
Open: Sun-Thu 11am-12mn | Fri,Sat,Eve of Public Holiday 11am-1am

Opposing sides

opposing sides, originally uploaded by varf.

Left and right, top and bottom, front and back, here and there, now and then.

opposing sides, duo, originally uploaded by varf.

Can't I smoke in peace?

what are you looking at?, originally uploaded by varf.

Took this photo this morning with the recently announced restrictions on public smoking in mind.

Quick dinner stop: Imperial Treasure Teochew Kitchen

Having formed fairly good impressions of the Imperial Treasure Nan Bei restaurant at Takashimaya, we decided to give its sister outlet at Suntec, the Imperial Treasure Teochew Kitchen, a shot.

Style and execution are hauntingly similar to Crystal Jade Kitchen (for good reasons, I am told). The menu is on one sheet of paper that doubles as your placemat. Your orders are printed out neatly on a slip of paper that is placed on your table for the waitress to check off against as she delivers your food.

We ordered braised goose meat, preserved vegetables with braised pork, and some hong kong kai lan. There was a bit of a mix-up with the goose meat - the wrong dish had been delivered to our table - but they changed it to the right one with minimal fuss.

The mui choi kou yoke was gooood, I'd recommend it.

I also tried the honey-and-watercress drink just for the fun of it. It didn't look at all like what I'd expected - it was clear and light yellow-green, not cloudy and deep green. It tasted a little bit like sugarcane, although the watercress taste was still distinguishable. A novelty drink; not something I'd want to order again.

Did I say that the mui choi kou yoke was good? J likes it too. Yummy.

It's pretty amazing how successful the Imperial Treasure restaurants have been in the short span of time that they've been open. Good food delivered in good time with good service at reasonable prices; a great forumla that's hard to beat.

Time pieces

Last week passed by in a blurry recollection of late nights, frayed nerves, simmering tempers and red eyestrain. We actually made it for that ridiculous deadline without losing anyone, although that last bit involved some superhuman restraint on my end.

Last-minute changes seldom make people happy, harassed techies least of all.

Keeping time
If there's anything that acutely marks the start of a new work month, it's the monthly report for the previous month. It's like doing a timesheet, not unlike what lawyers do on a regular basis for time-based work; and like all reports, time-consuming as hell.

I'm told that one of the main reasons for this report is to determine which department pays our salary based on the time and effort expended on their account. Which makes me wonder, to whom and for how much should I attribute that annoying email which took one minute to read, half an hour to fume over, five minutes to construct a response to, fifteen minutes to remove most of the stings and barbs in said response, and an additional twenty-five minutes to cool down and get re-oriented to the previous, interrupted task?

I haven't even counted the amount of time it takes to recover from processing said report, invariably involving one or more of the following: imbibing a warm beverage, consuming food-not-amounting-to-a-meal, hitting a ball with a man on a stick (read whichever way you want).

Time passes
.. and we all get older. Other times pass, and we all pool together to get someone a gift that symbolizes the passing of time:



Time passes, and my wallet gets lighter. But what the heck; Happy Belated Birthday(s)! :)