Archive for February, 2006

 

Food for thought

Posted on February 28th, 2006 in Daily | No Comments »

Maya Angelou said this at Oprah’s show at her 70th Bday.

“I’ve learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life goes on, and it will be better tomorrow.”

“I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.”

“I’ve learned that making a living is not the same thing as making a life”

“I’ve learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance.”

“I’ve learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw some things back.”

“I’ve learned that even when I have pains, I don’t have to be one.”

“I’ve learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back.”

“I’ve learned that I still have a lot to learn.”

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

Thanks Nyan!

Lamborghini Murcielago LP640

Posted on February 22nd, 2006 in Mens' Toys | 5 Comments »

The fastest production car Lamborghini has ever built. A 6.5-litre V12 engine lies at the heart of the LP640, where LP stands for ‘longitudinale posteriore’, which refers to the V12 unit mounted lengthways behind the cockpit.

With deeper and wider cylinder bores than the previous 6.2-litre V12, the new 6.5 ups power to an imperious 631bhp at 8,000 good-for-the-soul revs per minute.

Coupled to a new six-speed gearbox, which can also be ordered with Lambo’s e-gear sequential paddle shift, the LP640 howls from 0-62mph in 3.4 seconds - 0.4 seconds quicker than the 6.2-litre model.

And it’s helped on its way by an electronic launch-control device called, rather brilliantly, Thrust.

Lambo has yet to announce a top speed, but word is that the LP640 will top 210mph, while low-speed driving is improved with variable valve timing and an aircraft-style drive-by-wire throttle.

For the show-offs, a glass engine cover can be ordered.

Read more: Top Gear

Tong Shui Cafe

Posted on February 19th, 2006 in Food | No Comments »

Tong Shui Cafe is located at 54 Zion Road (opposite Great World City), Singapore 247779. After much media hype, my cousins and I decided to check this eatery out. Their business model is based on selling comfort good in a cosy and lazy setting. “Tong Shui” means dessert in Cantonese, they offer more than just desserts alone.

Main meals

They have a very wide variety of food. Over 300 types will greet you in the menu. They offer, besides desserts, a fusion of East and West cuisines. For East, they have the familiar “You Char Kueh” or YCK as they called it, “Chee Chong Fan” (CCF) and Nissin noodles (yes.. instant noodles). In the name of entrepreneurship, the owner decided to repackage these common food with fancy names and some add-ons. For example, they have CCF with Mango Roll and Sunset egg, Kimchi-Flavoured noodles with luncheon meat and ham. Their kimchi noodles are actually nissin noodles with a dash of chilli power, there’s no kimchi flavour at all.

It’s the same with their other East offerings, just a mix and match of food onto a plate.

For West, they have better offerings like Italian pasta, cheese baked rice and sandwiches.

Drinks

Cuppucino-coke: taste bad and as weird as it sounds. Chin-Chow coffee, basically it’s just dark coffee. Great effort on the creativity, but no points for the quality.

Desserts

The only item that tingled my tastebuds was the Snowy Mango Mountain with Pomelo. It’s basically shaved ice with mango toppings. However, what made it so special and tasty is the Pomelo. The pomelo adds frangance and texture to the dessert.

I feel that this shop is trying its best to infuse the traditional with some modern touches. However I think it will be better if they just stick to selling traditionl stuffs. Will I go back again? - I’ll have my Prata Kosong + Prata Teloh + Teh Tarik or Bak Chor Mee + Cheng Teng anytime.

Link: Tong Shui Cafe

Of Fish and Chips

Posted on February 10th, 2006 in Daily, Food | 23 Comments »

Updated: Apparently this chain’s bad press has been going on for a while:

Forum thread 1
| Forum thread 2

Recently my brother and I went to this fast-food chain in Singapore that sells mainly Fish & Chips and fried chicken fillets. (I’m not going to name the chain as you and I know that Internet isn’t that safe) So I queued up and ordered Combo 2. It consists of 1 piece fish, 2 pieces of chicken, fries and a drink. It costs S$5.60.

Then the conversation between me and the waitress followed:

Waiteress: What do you want for your drink? Regular or large?

Me: Regular. (To me, and I believe to any customers, regular means the norm, the usual, the one shown on the picture, I do not want to change it, while large means a bigger one, an upsized one.)

When my food came, I was charged S$5.90, which was 30 cents more than it should be. Puzzled, so I asked the waiteress:

“May I know how come it’s $5.90?”

She replied:

“Sir, for drinks, regular means medium.”

I paid the extra 30 cents nonetheless.

The point I’m trying to make is that, why can’t they just ask the customer whether he/she would like to upsize the drink and not asking such a misleading question! They can even say regular means medium, when there’s no such notation on their menu. This is purely misinfomation. At the very least, put the sizes available nice and clear on the drinks menu.

I of course do not mind the extra 30 cents. What I mind is the unethical way they do business. Mislead the customers just to earn that extra amount of money? Are they so desperate that they need that extra money just to stay alive?

I don’t know if anyone of you out there has similar experience. As far as I’m concerned, they just lost a customer and won my bad-mouthing.

Chocolate Fondue

Posted on February 8th, 2006 in Daily, Food | No Comments »

Chocolate fondue! Bought 3 marshmellow sticks (one already in my stomach) at 1 buck each at my campus’s carnival today. I think next time I should also setup store and sell these things, damn good money! They were like selling strawberry sticks for $3.90 per stick! Anyway, it’s pure heaven! Sinful some might say, but hey it’s chocolate! Aphrodisiac!