Caution Blind Man Driving

First Remy Ong said and quote "but the thing is I didn't know that I actually hit the dog," 


Then GP Teo Tiong Kiat said quote "he did not know he had hit two cyclists".


Excuse me, were this 2 fellas blind?

What a load of baloney! Surely they can come up with a better excuse than this: "like I thought it was an alien invading Singapore so I deliberately ran it down" or maybe "I was sleeping and I have this habit of sleep driving".

Let me put it this way. If they didn't know they hit somebody or something, why did they go back to the scene of the accident? If they didn't know they hit something, how do they know something had happened and where did it happened? A normal sane person will not drive back to retract the route unless he knew something had happened back there. 

So I submit they knew they had hit something. As a driver of many years, it is not possible to know you had not hit anything. There has to be an impact and in the Doc's case, there was a damaged bonnet, roof and wind screen. How does one drive and not notice something like that? Unless he is blind?

On the other hand, the bowler was driving a Porsche. The Porsche Boxster is a low body car. The driver will surely feel it when the vehicle goes over any hump or objects. His excuse was he thought he brushed against the tail of a dog. Hello, it could be a dog, it could also be a child but any moving vehicle brushing against something in which the driver can sense it means whatever it is could have been sideswiped by the force of the moving vehicle at the very least. So he should have stop to check. But he did not perhaps because he was blind as well? 

I am disgusted at the excuse these people gave. Whether it is a dog or a human being, it is still a life. The decent thing for them, if they had for some reasons best known to themselves, not been able to stop to render assistance, is to own up later and admit they knew but was too cowardly to stop. At least, maybe they can live with themselves after that.

$2m Roast Meat?

Since I had a little bit of time today and since everybody was talking about it, I decided to pay a visit to the $2.4m Kay Lee Roast Meat. I thought since it was still early and not yet lunch time, I probably don't have to wait too long. How wrong I was!

I reached the place at about 11am and there was at least 20 person in the queue plus 2 person from some media doing filming. I waited a long time, 40 minutes to be exact. But it was an interesting wait. There was no roast duck at that time so I was kinda disappointed but by the time my turn came, out came the ducks. But more interestingly, was observing the behavior of the people  in the queue.

One lady tried to order only roast meat and got a shelling from the dynamo lady boss. She, the lady boss, was so indignant that someone has the audacity not to order the char siew that she insisted that the lady takes the char siew as well otherwise no sale. Another lady who had ordered ahead for her colleagues also got ticked off. She had placed a telephone order which apparently was not allowed during this period but one of the helper went and took the order anyway so when the came, she kena scolding. She got so flustered that she paid up hurriedly, all $92.00 worth of meat and left quickly without taking along the soups! When the ducks came out from the kitchen, some of the people who had ordered earlier and were eating rushed up to 're-order' the roast duck. That led to a jam as they became sort of "queue jumper" and the lady boss ranted on and on.

When my turn finally came, I meekly ordered a mixed serving for 2 and quickly went to my table. Was the meat really worth the wait and more importantly the $2m price tag for the recipe?

The house specialty of Kay lee is of course, like the lady boss so proudly and fiercely defended, is of course the char siew! But to a casual observer, the char siew should be badly burnt cos it was really blackened and not red like all normal char siew available else where. The interesting thing though is that while it may be black, it certainly didn't taste burnt. In fact, it tasted damn good. Char Siew is my least favourite roast meat but this was good! The meat was a little bit fat and not totally lean, it was cut thick and not thinly sliced. The caramelized skin tasted heavenly. 

The roast duck came straight out of the kitchen and it was still hot which means the meat was really tender. Most time, the roast duck I took had been hung to dry for a while and the meat had dried up a bit but this one was really moist and tender. Problem is, I didn't feel that it was as good as some other roast duck that I have tried. It just wasn't fragrant enough.

The black char siew

My favourite type of meat is roast meat and here, the meat was cut in big chunk unlike some places that slice it so thin that I have to take 2 at one go to appreciate the favour. But while the roast meat was tender enough and the skin crispy, again I felt that there was better roast meat available.

My platter for 2 including 2 rice and 2 lemon tea came up to a whooping $25.00! Probably the most expensive meat I have. Was it worth the money? And is it worth the $2m price tag? Me think $25.00 is too much but yes, if I have $2m spare cash to play around with, I would certainly put my money down. The way I figured, it is a sure bet judging from the crowd. According to press report, the single stall makes a profit of about $2,000.00 a day and that is selling only up to 4pm. Assuming that whoever gets the recipe goes on to open say another 2 outlets and say net profit is conservatively estimated at $1,000.00 per stall per day, the investor will make $1,095,000.00 per year, a 50% return on the $2m in just 1 year! Unfortunately I don't have $2m so I shall just contend myself with going round trying out all the famous roast meat stall.

Resort World Sentosa

Call me mountain tortoise or what? Since the Resort World Sentosa opened 2 years ago, I have not been there for a real visit not less step into the casino. But recently I did landed there and was fairly impressed by the sights. 

A big courtyard that is "almost" air condition

Big spacious mall with high end luxury stores

A left over CNY decoration

Shark Fin

I eat shark fin soup. In fact I also eat shark meat. There I said it! But unlike Sumiko Tan, I don't think I will be getting any flaming from netizens since 1) I am no celebrity writer or blogger and 2) not that many people read my weird all over the place posts anyway.

Shark Fin soup at Huat Kee Teochew Restaurant

 But back to the shark fin. I must admit I haven't watch any of those fin cutting, smash the dolphins, club the cows videos so far. In fact, I deliberately avoid seeing such videos so that I can continue to have my shark fin and beef without feeling guilty. But yes, I am fully aware of the debate raging on about the extinction of sharks, the consequential collapse of the food chain in the sea, the cruelty of the fishermen blah blah blah

Shark Meat

So while I will order a nice beef steak for dinner or lunch, I have not gone out of my way to order shark fin soup. Me being a kiamseap, I will not pay exorbitance prices for some tasteless strands of hair like thingy. Most time that I have it, it is on the set menu at some dinners that I am a guest of. But if it is placed before me, I will eat it and if there is second helpings, I will eat that as well. 

So what does that make me?  The way I see it, banning shark fin is not going to work. The forbidden fruit always taste nicer. So curbing the supply will simply jack up the demand and the prices and lead to more people exploiting it. Just look at the ban on ivory, tiger parts and rhino horns. Has it worked? If anything, I will suggest that supply be increased. Increase the supply to the point where consumption of shark fin is so common that it is no longer an exotic food for banquets and the shark fin will lose its lustre and hopefully the demand will come down.

And how to increase the supply? How about farming sharks? In this days and age, surely it is possible to captive breed sharks. If they can do it with crocodiles, why not sharks? Let's forget the idea of cruelty to sharks etc by confining them in small quarters. There has to be a compromise somewhere and me think breeding shark, just like those kelongs that are breeding garoupa, salmons, etc are doing the right thing. 

And to all those activists who are hell bend on stopping the trade in shark fin, they should spend their energy on coming up with an alternative instead of telling people what not to do. Engage and do not oppose. Give people a way out rather than forcing the issue onto them. Ultimately, it will definitely be easier for them to achieve their objectives. 

Ah Orh Teochew Restaurant

Ah Orh is one of the more famous Teochew restaurant in Singapore. Originally from the Ellenborough street market, when the place was demolished it moved to a shop unit at Jalan Bukit Merah where it has been since. The last time I was there was a zillion years ago but for some reasons or other, I have not been back since.

Anyway, finally managed to go there for dinner one fine evening. Other than set menu, they have no other menu and to order, one go to the counter where there are an assortment of tanks of seafood and placed the order directly.

At the recommendation of the son of Ah Orh, we ordered the winter melon soup which came in the whole winter melon. I wondered how they managed to keep the soup in and even more how M scooped the soup and the winter melon without breaking it. But this was probably the best dish of the whole evening.

All Teochew restaurant worth it salt will have the oyster egg and this was no exception except that I thought it was rather ordinary. There was quite a lot of oyster though.

Wealth has turned Singaporean into Snob

It is sad. Not in my own backyard. No off days for maids. Calls to cull monkeys, dogs and birds.

What has become of us Singaporean that we have become so selfish and intolerant. Me think it is wealth - Singaporean are now more wealthy and wealth has somehow turn these people into snob and selfish ingrate who think only of their own interest and will not tolerate anybody intruding into their world and making changes to it.

I wonder how our future generations are going to turn out if this continues?

Kranji Nature Trail

I have been to Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve several times but have never stepped onto the Kranji Nature Trail which is just next to the carpark. With some time to spare in the evening, finally decided to go and have a look see.

The Kranji Nature Trail is a 2km trail which starts from the carpark of the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve and ends at Kranji Way. It was drizzling and we hurried through the trail and were not hopeful of spotting any things but to our surprise, manage to get a few shots of some of the creatures there.

Some spiders. 

Malaysia Food Street at Resort World Sentosa

.Was at Resort World and had dinner at this atas food court selling only Malaysian's food. It was extremely crowded when we walked in about 6.30 pm and getting seats was a big hassle. But in the end we found a place after I stared down at 3 ladies who were chatting oblivious to all the people searching high and low for seats.

A representation of streets in Malaysia on this directional sign.

And the stalls and their food

Penang Laksa

Penang Char Koay Teow