Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) Movie

The Slog Reviews: 3/10. It was that bad. The only good bits were what was in the trailer and nothing more. I didn't expect the ending though - that Capt A would only wake up 70 years later. Pretty sure there will be a sequel, and I've a hunch his love interest would somehow be "immortalized" as well.

The only thing in the movie that triggered some thoughts was the scene where Capt A was tested as a recruit - his superior threw a "grenade" among the squad members and Capt A was the only one who didn't duck/run for cover. Instead, he hugged the grenade to his chest and shouted for his team mates to take cover. That's courage, and as the bible goes, the man who is prepared to lay down/lose his life for his fellow men will be the one who has eternal life.

It also reminded me of some msn link that I'd read about a man who died of cancer recently and left letters to his two young children, asking them to have these 3 values which he believes will carry them far.

1) Integrity - Do what you say you will do. Don't lie - especially to yourself.

2) Moral Courage - Do what is right, even if you are hated/persecuted/octracised.

3) Loyalty - Be devoted, be faithful.

Lao Beijing @ Novena Square

Last Sunday, my mum suggested Lao Beijing because of a prior pleasant experience we had there before. The "8 Treasures" Tea (in Chinese, "Ba Bao Cha") we had for about SGD3 each was very sweet and refreshing, something I would recommend instead of the usual kind of teas like pu-er and ju-hua.

Because it was about 2.20pm when we reached there, we weren't quite so hungry any more and decided to order dim sum. But Lao Beijing doesn't have a dim sum menu at all. So we ordered the Xiao Long Bao which came in a basket of 8 for about SGD12. The Slog Reviews: No complaints at all about the quality or quantity. The skin was soft but firm, as was the meat but it isn't an exceptionally tasty dish.

We also decided to order another "dim-sum" like dish which was some bamboo shoots wrapped in the same skin as the xiao long bao. The Slog Reviews: These were far less tender and a bit dry compared to the xiao long bao dish. And, they were more expensive too. Definitely would not recommend this dish below over the xiao long baos!

My CEB was in the mood for toufu and he ordered the hot plate spicy beancurd with seafood which turned out to be a most excellent choice. The small scallops and shrimps in the dish went very well with the soft fresh quivering cubes of toufu, and the sauce was too die far. The Slog Reviews: 9/10. Definitely would recommend this dish to anyone going to Lao Beijing!

1 of my ex-suitors had brought me to Lao Beijing for its duck dish and so I thought the braised duck would be a good choice but alas. It was the furthest thing from good. The Slog Reviews: 1/10. This half a duck below which cost SGD19 was a pure waste of money and was not only pathetic in quantity but quality. The meat was tough and tasteless, the skin too dry and the sauce horrible. To tell you the truth, I was embarrassed for Lao Beijing that a restaurant of its standing would actually serve such an awful tasting dish!

I would recommend the pork trotters dish instead which we had the last time (See pic below) - it was a million times better than the duck dish above!

We ended the meal with a plate of red bean sesame pancake per the pic below. Like the prior experience, it was very good and devoured quickly by both my CEB and my mother. :)

I would have really liked the mango and coconut mousse dessert that we had the last time but my CEB claims to hate mango and so we gave this dessert a miss. Which is a mistake because I actually have a craving for the same, just by looking at the picture below. The mango inside was sweet and soft and the crisp flaky coconut on the outside was a perfect complement.

Address: Velocity@Novena Square #02-11/12 238 Thomson Road Singapore 307683 Tel : +65 6358 4466

Shark Fin at Thai Village

Over lunch on Sunday, my mum had raved so much about the Shark Fin Soup she had at Thai Village @ Goodwood Park that my CEB decided that he would take me there to celebrate our 2nd Monthiversary.

So I checked out Thai Village Restaurant's webpage and there was a listing for a branch at Changi. However when I called the tel number, I was told it was a residential number. So I called Goodwood Park and the staff confirmed that the Changi branch was closed. So rather than try to make it to town, we decided to go to the one at Stadium Walk and I made reservations at 7.30pm.

We only got there at 8.15pm because the restaurant was not where it was listed on the webpage - Oasis building! It was actually located on the first floor of Kallang Leisure Park. When I called the restaurant at 7.45pm looking for directions, the staff confirmed the address was at Stadium Walk which was where Oasis Building is. It was most frustrating and I had a telecon with the US at 9pm which I had to postpone. Bah - Thai Village needs to update its webpage!

Anyway because I was busy on my BB trying to postpone my telecon call, I left it to my CEB to select the dishes and place our order. We started with a medium sized bowl of shark fin soup, the cost of which was about SGD90. As per the picture below, the size of the shark fin in the soup was rather sizable and the texture was amazingly soft and chewy against the mushy texture of the soup.

I have to confess that although the bowl of soup was meant to be shared, my CEB gave me the lion's share of the shark fin. This is the last time I will be eating shark fin though. Even though I am an avid angler, I don't like fishing for sport and thinking about the inhumane way sharks are killed just for their fins, which are in fact tasteless, makes me quite ill. So while I am grateful for my CEB's generosity this time, no more shark fin. The pic below marks the last bowl of shark fin I will be ordering.

My CEB also ordered a plate of roast duck breast at my request. The Slog Reviews: 10/10. This must be one of the best duck meat dishes I've ever had! The sauce was nothing to shout about, being too tangy but the meat...the meat! How tender and soft it was with just the right amount of seasoning and fats. A must try for all duck meat lovers!

My CEB had a strange craving for beancurd in XO sauce which turned out to be a really good choice because it was a simple dish yet tasty enough because of the sauce.

I think the bill for just these 3 dishes came up to about S$140 and it was worth every cent!

Le Meridien Hotel at KL

Less than a week after coming back from Joburg to be with my CEB, it was time to travel for work again. There was a difference this time though - my CEB decided to pack his bags and join me. Firstly because the plane journey was an hour only (as compared to more than 10hrs for Joburg) and secondly because this biz trip spanned the weekend.

I chose to stay at Le Meridien Hotel this time instead of The Westin again, and the long short of the experience is that despite the not-too-fabulous experience at The Westin the last time, I would still pick The Westin over Le Meridien for my next business trip. Although I was upgraded to a premier room with a stunning view per the picture below, the long short is that Le Meridien is a far less luxurious hotel than its sister hotel.

For starters, my corner premier room (and corners are supposed to be bigger no?) looked like this below - cozy and clean at best but nothing spacious or fancy like the deluxe room at The Westin.

The bathroom was not too bad though - one could double soak - soak in the bath tub and soak in the stunning view with a beer in hand. Toiletries provided were decent but not the kind that one would to take back home.

My CEB being the more easy going of us two was happy enough with Le Meridien because of its decent enough room and location. Being connected to KL Sentral (via the taxi area of the top most floor of KL Sentral building) means that it is really easy to get about KL if one is dependent on public transport. It cost just RM13 for us to take a cab from KL Sentral to Bukit Bintang (one has to buy a ticket at the budget taxi counter at Bukt Bintang), and less than RM2 each to take a train from KL Sentral to KLCC. There is also the option of walking about 10mins to the LRT station from KL Sentral to take the LRT around the Bukit Bintang area.

My CEB left earlier than I did and when I got back a couple of days later, there he was at the airport with a box of durian puffs in hand.I have to admit that I was very surprised - my CEB has always been rather against my eating durians because my voracious consumption ("once start can't stop") of the said fruit had been giving me nosebleeds. Since it couldn't be the case that my CEB wanted his (insert pet name) to keel over early, I figured out that it was my CEB's way of showing me some love :) As I said, he is King Unromantic, so little gestures like this one are all the more meaningful.

Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro

Escape from harsh reality is easy when one loves books. I can see why this book was named best novel of the year (2005) by Times Magazine - I was sick when I started picking up and had intended to read till I got sleepy enough but instead, it was such an engaging page turner that I could not put the book down till I got to the very last page.

The Slog Reviews: 9/10. The book, written in the first narrative, is made for easy reading yet the author manages to convey and deal with many difficult issues from cloning to the angst of growing up and relationships with all its hopes, fulfilment and pain.

There are 3 main characters - Kathy, the character through whom the story is told, Tommy and Ruth. For a really good summary of the story, click here. All are clones who are expected to give donations and brought up in a house called Hailsham. There, they are encouraged to engage in artwork and poetry. Tommy and Ruth becomes a couple despite there being an unmistakable bond between Tommy and Kathy. This bond however remains that of friendship and respect and never does Kathy think of entering into a relationship with her close friend's (Ruth) boyfriend. Years later when their paths seperate, Kathy looks for Ruth to become her carer after Ruth's second donation which apparently did not go well. Before Ruth goes for her next donation, she apologises to Kathy for keeping her and Tommy apart. Kathy looks for Tommy and they become a couple but Tommy is scheduled for his fourth and final donation. Ruth urges them to look for the Madame at Hailsham where she believes Tommy can get a deferral if Kathy and Tommy can show they are in love. Ruth even convinces them that the artwork was used to gauge the depth of Kathy and Tommy's souls, and judge their true love. So filled with hope, Kathy and Tommy goes, but only to find out that Hailsham was a failed experiment to prove to the world that clones had souls - the artwork was used for that purpose but Madame did not managed to convince the world and starved of funding, Hailsham was closed and clones brought up in worse environments. Kathy asks Madame why she had tears in her eyes long ago when she watched Kathy hugging a pillow as if it were a baby and singing Never Let Me Go. Kathy thought that Madame had felt sorry for her knowing that Kathy would never have a baby, being a clone. Madame replied that she saw a child asking the old kinder world she knew never to let her go in face of a new and cruel world (using clones). I didn't understand the ending though - when Kathy and Tommy parted for the last time and Kathy saw a fence with all the things she lost washed up against them and Tommy now 1 of them. It was just sad, but significant in a way that needs to be explained to a denser mind. :P

I kind of liked the book in that...if 2 people are meant to be together, they will be, in the end. Even someone else trying to keep them apart can only succeed for some period of time. It isn't true love prevailing I think, I think it's fate, all written in the stars and somehow we will find our way back to the one we were meant to be with. The years in between (whether alone or someone else) aren't lost or wasted, but necessary as a lesson and experience.

It isn't the length of time we had or will have together that mattered, it is the quality of that time, the moments lived, to be had. :P

And on never letting a person go? There is nothing to stop a person from leaving - you can cage the body but never the heart, the mind, the soul, the spirit.

Downside to flying business class

One would have thought that there were none right?

WRONG - flying business class means I can't change flights to get back home 1 day earlier. Because there are just so many biz class seats compared to economy seats.

BAH. What a bad joke. I miss my CEB so very very much :( And now it looks like I have to stay one day more despite my boss giving the green light for me to go back 3 hours before this regional meeting ends.

Home is indeed where the heart is and I never ever thought I'll be happy to fly back to SG right after a working trip given how I've always extended as long as I could at my own expense to do some shopping or sightseeing.

I better do a better job of planning my Brazil trip which is coming up in slightly over 2 months. It's incredible how fast the weeks and months fly by!

Freezing in Joburg

The weather here has been bitterly cold the past few days and your truely is therefore not only jet-lagged from the time difference (South Africa is 6 hours behind Singapore time) but freezing. To the extent that I asked my HR if I could use my corporate credit card to exercise my winter clothes allowance here.

Now I've never gone ga-ga over winter clothes which are of the most part, bulky and not camera-friendly. However, while shopping at Sandton City Mall for something warm to wear, I found this most lovely and plush winter coat by Caterpillar. Not only is it camera-friendly with a most flattering cut, but it truely is the softest and most "plushy" item I've ever owned. Thank you (insert name of my co) for this!

I also found a pretty nice black sweater by Polo and together with the coat, the chill here is almost bearable. I say almost because I still can't wait to get back to sunny humid Singapore, nice coat or not. The cold is truely debilitating - one's mind is totally focused on how damn cold it is and how to keep just that little bit warmer. I'm so glad I'm not going for the safari after this trip!

Soul Surfer (2011) Movie

This movie was the first I watched on board the 10hr+ flight to Joburg. Unlike the previous trip to US (click here), I didn't enjoy the trip on SQ despite it being on biz class as well. Firstly, the biz class lounge at T2 was far more crowded and far less luxurious than the one at T3. Secondly, the seats of the aircraft were not the pale plushy ones but the dark blue ones which were not as comfortable. (The food was good though - the beef in the beef noodles was surprisingly tender.) However, I enjoyed Soul Surfer- its title is telling - this inspirational story (based on a true story) is about the courage and will of an individual to, with faith in God and in herself, rise above a crippling accident and embrace life. I think I have never choked up so many times or teared during a movie. I would rate the movie 10/10 easily and encourage anyone who has lost perspective, motivation, purpose and courage in life to take a couple of hours and watch Soul Surfer. Imagine a surfer, an athlete losing her left arm in a shark attack, the stump too short to attach a prosthetic arm. I'm not an athlete, and am guessing that you too do not depend on the condition of your body for a living. Yet neither of us would ever want to lose a limb. Imagine then what losing an arm means to an athlete whose field involves the use of all 4 limbs. And yet Bethany went back to surfing 1 month from the accident and competed competitively within a year. 

Because she had Faith, Perspective and Will. With these 3, as what she says "I don't need easy, I just need possible." Although in moments of utter frustration (of having 1 arm) she asked why God would allow this to happen to her, she never stopped believing in God, that God had plans for her and that something good would come out of the accident. This same faith led her to participate in a mission trip to Thailand after the tsunami and this trip was the turning point for her. She realised she had lost an arm but she had more than these pp had - they had lost loved ones, some, their entire families, and their home and possessions. And that was when she decided to embrace life to the fullest despite her own loss - and it wasn't just a decision - she devoted hours to training and conditioning her body so she would be in the best possible form to compete. 

 Indeed in life, often what we think is our greatest loss or defeat is just an opportunity for God to give us more, give us better. And what differentiates a winner from a loser is nothing more than having the will and determination to hang in there, or rather, get back up when knocked down. Since I am in Africa, I will end with a fitting quote from the movie Invictus where Nelson Mandela says "I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul".