Shanghai 2009

Never really expected it, but I am in love with Shanghai. Its a modern city, rather highly populated with foreign students and expats. You get great food at reasonable prices here, whether its Chinese, Japanese, French, South American, Korean etc. There's a comprehensive transport system, consisting of public buses, taxis (rather affordable), metro and spacious and clean trains to the outskirts of the city. For a relaxed afternoon, just pop into one of the cafes (American chains Starbucks, Cold Stone Cremery and Haagen Daz are everywhere) where there is wireless internet and magazines are free for perusal. Last but not least, there is H&M (haha!).

Ten things I learnt about Shanghai:
1. Customers do not have the habit of saying Thank You to service staff. If you do, you are very polite. But well, it doesn't hurt to show some courtesy.
2. Chinese on the streets love to push u to get space to walk, and its perfectly normal. So just get used to it if you are there, there is no point in getting agitated because no one really cares except yourself.
3. Taxis are cheap, start ups are about RMB10-RMB12 and can last 5 mins without any increment. A 15-20mins trip costs about estimated RM40 (S$8), so i guess sometimes sharing a cab is cheaper. As comparison, metro train tickets start from RMB3. Generally, taxis go by the meter. However, beware of taxis at the railway station whereby they will request for a fixed rate at outrageous price.
4. Head to Muse 2 for some clubbing action! Great music, no cover charge, cheap drinks, professional singers/rappers/dancers. Way better than Butter Factory or Zouk i will say.
5. Shopping for clothes is not that cheap here, especially at the malls. Nevertheless, there is H&M which offers affordable and fashionable wear. To get boots, go to qi pu lu. You can also get cheap books (around RMB10/per) and DVDs (RMB10/disc) on the street stalls
6. Eating is cheap. Meals at nice restaurants generally cost less than S$10 per person. For illustration: Korean bbq dinner costs RMB30 (S$6. Maybe $30 in Singapore). Chinese food alike Crystal Jade/Tung Lok costs RMB25 (S$5. Maybe S$25 in Singapore)
3-course fusion lunch costs RMB90 (S$18. Maybe $30-45 in Singapore for the same quality)
7. To tell the cab driver a place to go to, name the road AND the intersecting road. Telling them the unit number is of little help.
8. There are no so-called predestrian crossing here! So watch out for on-coming cars in both directions when crossing the road, even at traffic lights.
9. When shopping at qi pu lu, starting bargaining at 30% of the asking price. (i.e ask for RMB70 if asking price is RMB210)
10. Forget the tourist attractions and go off the beaten path!

Hmm, seems like its all about food and shopping.

sat with mum

30 Oct (Fri) dinner: Itacho Sushi
31 Oct (Sat) dinner: Itacho Sushi
5 Nov (Thu) lunch: Itacho Sushi
7 Nov (Sat) lunch: Itacho Sushi

4 visits to Itacho Sushi in 8 days!

Today I brought my mum to Orchard Ion to show her around the latest, hippest shopping mall. Haha, I actually quite like the place, cos there are many shops and... there is a lot of nice food around!

We headed first to Itacho Sushi for lunch. It is a very famous sushi chain in Hong Kong and they have arrived to set up a branch in Singapore. Staff in the restaurant speak mainly Cantonese among themselves because many of them are from Hong Kong and they are here in Singapore to help with the start-up. Yummy! The food is really good! And very reasonsably priced.

Next stop is Bread Society. Once, I bought these cheese and cranberry buns from the bakery and she loved it.. she ate 6 buns in a day! First time she ate so much of a food that I buy, haha! Yeaps anyway I love the bread there simply because the breads are really soft. And yea, we bought the cheese and cranberry bun again.

We shopped around and I brought her to B4 to look around the food stores. We ordered these takoyaki balls from Gindaco. Another delicious must-try at Ion! Love it because the "skin" is crsipy on the outside and not too starchy. Close fight with the ones I had in Osaka. But beware, the queue is usually very long!

Haha the food tour didn't stop there.. as I urged her to try the tea from Tea Loft. Very smooth, and the taste of the tea is not overwhelmed by the condensed/evaporated milk, which is a usual problem with the tea from many coffee chains nowadays. But a cup here costs a whopping $1.70, about $0.30 more than that in coffee chains such as Ya Kun and Toastbox.

We ended the (food-)eventful day by dropping by Imperial Treasure Teochew Restaurant to da-bao the Liu Sha (Custard) buns. We had that last week in the restaurant and it was REALLY GOOD. The hot custard, with the fragrance of the salted egg yolk ,oozes out when you bite into them. Best custard bun I have ever eaten!

Some much eating and shopping with my mum... what a wonderful day! =D

My loves

Last week I saw a friend's friend's facebook photos.. she went to Le Cordon Bleu in Paris to study baking! Looking at the photos of her in classes, the cakes, bread, pies, cookies and bread that they baked.. makes me want to study Patisierie again. I guess thats what i really love.

Friday night, Ying, Keng and I went for desserts at Bakerzin after dinner. We had the choux pastry and molten chocolate cake.. they tasted so good! i told myself: i want to make and sell this in future.

I wish i can go to le cordon bleu sydney next year end to do the course.
I dun know when my dream of having my own cafe will come true, but i guess learning how to bake professionally will be a good start! Its ever so easy to just pick a recipe and bake according to instructions. But going commercial is not that simple. You really have to learn the character of each ingredient and how ingredients work together. You have to learn that if your bread turns dry, if ur souffle sinks, if your cake cracks, if your muffin is too dense - what is really wrong with it. And you need to know how to come up with new creations to distinguish yourself from other patisiers.

I am not particular about food which i eat (to fill my hunger), but I certainly can tell the difference between good and bad. I guess FOOD is really my interest. Not in the sense that I love to eat good food(who doesn't?), but my interest takes me to another level - Why does that paricular item tastes so good? Is it because of the quality/origin/freshness of the ingredient? Is it because of the way its cooked - the technique/time taken/control of temperature/different stages orfpreparation? Or is it there a special ingredient which was added? I like to know what I am eating.

Anyway check out this new Japanese restaurant at Orchard Ion - Itacho Sushi (I am a great lover of Japanese food and sushi is my favourite!). The sushi at Itacho is really good.. reminds me of the sushi I had in Japan. Yum!


Salmon sushi

Roasted mackerel sushi (Mackerel flown in from Tsukiji Fish Market in Japan!)

Yellowtail sushi

Wafu chicken salad

Crab and avocado salad

Chicken and carrot stew (hmm.. soup is too sweet..)

Home-made tofu

I seriously can eat these everyday.

A love-hate relationship

I love my job because..

1. It takes me to places. Out of Singapore and experience working abroad.
2. Monetary benefits - Salary is ok ( i really feel its reasonable, despite much disagreements). When travelling overseas, can earn per diem to supplement income, can claim warm clothings allowance.
3. The job scope can be really interesting - understanding the mechanics of different industries, learning about organisational behaviour.. there is always new things to learn.
4. It is flexible. Cos its project-based. And when there are no projects, u really have free time (at least at my level).
5. I have really nice colleagues.
6. Can take cab to work, when on assignments at client's place
7. There is really job satisfaction, like when your manager comment that you have improved, and they are looking forward to you taking on more roles. Or when clients are open-minded and accept your opinions and recommendations.
8. I get to continue playing team sports because there are annual inter-department games and inter-CPA games, which i participate quite actively in.
9. There are people from higher management who really do care about your well-being and make you feel like you are not alone in difficult situations.

I dislike my job because...
1. Of how sometimes higher management say they will help, that they care, but those words never seem to translate to real results.
2. Client does not appreciate what you are doing - to improve their business processes- and instead view internal audit to be a compliance cost and makes life hard for us.
3. Nasty clients, and you never understand why they have to behave that way.
4. Over-demanding managers
5. It can be really boring, repeating the audit for the same processes, for the same clients.
6. Sometimes got to work really late, and I am not a person who can work late, cos my brain doesn't really work after a certain time.
7. Have to bring work home to do after working hours and during weekends sometimes
8. Accident happens.

This road that I'm taking twists and turns

My life my chance turning dreams into reality

Down this path faced with many things

Sometimes I feel like giving up and turn away

Can't seem to go on

And I've been thru' this before

Now where am I? Where do I stand?

A little lost here

But I'll remember

All those times you've bought me through

I'd be a fool to give up cos' the goal is near

I'll move on I'll go on

Lord I will take your hand

And you will guide me along

Survive thru' this storm

So I say come what may

I'll hold on to my hope

Yes I will walk down this road

And my passion drive will lead me on

Here I am

Once again caught in the rain

Looking back I've come so far and I want to carry on

Take a step at a time it's alright

Even through this rain I want to smile again

Don't hold back now

And I've been thru' this before

Now where am I? Where do I stand?

A little lost here

But I'll remember

All those times you've bought me thru'

I can feel the sun shining down on me

Here I am

Here I am

Lord I will take your hand

And you will guide me along

Survive thru' this storm

So I say come what may

I'll hold on to my hope

Yes I will walk down this road

And my passion drive will lead me on

Peace

Accidents happen, and we just got to learn to let it go and move on.
Simply because life goes on, and thinking of all the 'what if's are of no use anymore.

He must have been a great grandfather, from the way he told us about the times he spent with his grandchildren. I really hope his family can brace themselves and be strong...

Great October Weekend

On Friday, met up with Meini and Lisa (who said she was very bored) and went to chill at Acid Bar and had a wonderful evening listening to the acoustic band play familiar songs. I also met my bro's girlfriend there - her group was making quite a bit of noise :p

Saturday was a healthy day.. we played tennis in the morning and headed for wakeboarding straight after. I had not intend to wakeboard as it is too expensive (aroun $80-$100 per session), just wanted to go enjoy the breeze. But it looked real fun (i tried once three years back) and i succumbed to temptation and played for half an hour. The girls generously paid for me! =D And now i want to wakeboard again.. it was really fun!

By the time wakeboarding ended, it was already five. And I had to rush home to prepare to attend Edwin's (colleague) wedding at Marina Mandarin. Too late, so i had to cab down to the hotel.... $$ fly away, haha.Marina Manadarin was on of our shortlisted hotels for our wedding next year. But we decided against it cos 1) the wedding cooridator was impatient 2) minimum 40 tables, cannot negotiate at all 3) afraid of the packing and traffic conditions around city hall area on sat night. Anyway, the ballroom was elegant, ambience was great, and the food was traiditonal, but good. The shark's fin in the soup was huge, chicken in plum sauce was not too rich but tasty and the abalone in 'abalone with spinach' was quite big. The dessert (mango sago with ice cream) was superb i had 2 servings!

Sunday, i had a 'surprise' (did not succeed because i found out about it) - Ning Ning came back from Sydney for the weekend! So happy to see her! Ning ning, yea, u put on some weight, but u still look great and most importantly, u are happy, so who cares! =) Please take good care when u return to Aussie, and I am sure u will enjoy the rest of ur time there.. cannot wait to visit u next year!

Lovely lovely weekend, i wish every week is like that. But i sure know very clearly in my mind what i want in my life =) 1001 things i wanna do, just waiting for me to go do them!