The Wannabe Economist talks about everything mundane and not-so-mundane
My heart is pounding furiously right now.
I don’t know whether it’s the significant larger than usual intake of caffeine, or is it the school economy rice with expected price of $2.40 with variance of 0 (sampling the order i placed) that i just ate.
Intermediate econometrics paper in 1 hour.
Deep breath, Chongky, deep breath.
I just recalled that a couple of days back, Mrs Chongky told me about Pine Garden getting onto the top 50 best cake list on The Straits Times while she was flipping through the papers.
I asked her about her opinion on the lychee martini cake and she claimed that she didn’t eat it so i should be asking myself that question.
Unfortunately, despite paying from my own pocket (which i seldom do nowadays =P) for the cake, i don’t remember much. Other than it tasted like the canned lychee. With a disappointing taint of alcohol taste. Nothing like the lychee martini that i had at Gina’s party. Yup i’m not a martini person and i hardly order martini, but i do remember the occassion when i had so much martini that i was rather happy the entire evening.
Then Mrs Chongky wondered how come Canele didn’t make the list. Hmmm…
We have been eating non-stop these couple of days.
Yesterday it was between the 2 of us, 3 bubble teas, 1 chessy curry chicken (chippy’s), 2 plates of Far East chicken rice and MacDee’s. Those were on top of breakfast and 1 big pao at supper.
And today, just for tea/dinner, we had between us, 1 pork ribs, chicken burger and fries at Cartel.
I think we is getting fat.
Probably had a bit too much to drink. Wine and vodka…
Was watching this HK movie on channel 8. Right after the movie there was this food segment (which has been used as filler in-between programmes nowadays) that features this handmade noodle place in Tanjong Pagar.
Which makes me want to go eat there tomorrow.
Which makes me miss dancing with the team very much again.
Don’t get me wrong. I leave not because i hate the team. I leave because i seek my own challenges. I now find more time to train, and had since completed my first biathlon, with one more coming up next saturday. Following which i am going to rush back to alma mater to play soccer (if time permits) / Waikiki at Sentosa at which i am playing for Econs once again. Sunday would most likely be National Vertical Marathon (Mrs Chongky, what say you?), and following which the practise session for MR500 inter-school dragonboat race. The following sunday will of course be the actual MR500 race.
Frankly, how would i be able to find the time to pursue these challenges if i had continue to dance? I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, it’s just that i ought to take a rest to chase after my own dream of doing more multi-sports after dancing for these few years.
While i am at the topic of dance, PLEASE GO SUPPORT TAN NGIAP HENG’S PHOTO EXHIBITION. You know i hardly use this avenue to generate any support for an event. So for me to do that, this event must be worth that penny.
I have known Tan Ngiap Heng the photographer since National Arts Festival 2005, during which June and Jackson got him to photo the performances. In 2006, i found him attending the beginners’ class i teach. Not that he is a beginner in dance, he actually picked up very fast (after all he used to dance professionally for a year).
I have always respected his work, and his passion for dance. He’s a nice guy too. There was this ocassion that i was well, running late for class because i can’t catch a bus, and he was on his way to the studio for my class. On his way, he saw me at the bus stop and just so happened that he was in the left lane. He stopped and gave me a lift, when he could just continue driving and save that hassle.
I can’t say i’m publicising this photo exhibition because he’s a friend. We haven’t been in contact for a couple of years. But i’m highlighting this event because i believe in what he is doing.
If you are free, visit this exhibition at The Arts House. It is on-going until 28 Feb, from 10am to 6.30pm. Admission is free. For more information, you can visit the homepage of this exhibition.
I am contemplating purchasing the book, but i can only make the decision after i browse at the copy at the exhibition.
I don’t have time to upload the pictures yet. But the CNY gathering with the climb team friends was a blast (in Neh’s words). Lots of food for steamboat, almost everyone was around at some point in time, and everyone ends the day sticky and hot (after playing Wii you dirty minded fella).
More on this after Neh finishes the video she talked about (if she keeps to it). And after i get some sleep in order to wake up at 8am tomorrow for the 9am soccer match.
Holiday here has been great. We have been here for almost 2 weeks. Shopped a lot, chiefly groceries, and clothes and the likes. We are already done with clothes shopping, due to limited budget. Most of the stuff are from the markets, like the “I do my own stunts” for Elsie and Eric’s baby due next year.
Others are mainly from DFO.
I like this place. Nevermind the higher cost of living. Milk is relatively cheaper, and even more readily available. And creamier than any brand of milk back home (i dare say that i have drank every single brand they have at home).
And for the first time in my life, i had REAL cherry.
Mrs Chongky has been cooking a lot. A lot of japanese curry, and a lot of stir fry something with lotsa onion and coriander. We’re doing quite well, in fact. You would be surprised that we eat more at home than out. Pizza hut is relatively cheap as well, with 1 drink and 1 personal pizza at AUS$3, which is around SGD$4. If we didn’t go to town, we almost never fail to have that for snack.
And yes, i admit that we snack a lot. Chips, chocolates, soda, and even more chocolate. Can’t help it when the place is damn cool for summer. Like today it was max 22 degrees, and we visited the beach. As for what exactly do we do at the beach, and how frequently we end up at the beach, that shall be a post on its own.
And of course, we’re not the lifeguard.
Back to food, we have been to Harry’s de wheel, which is very likely to end up being the only recommended food place on Lonely Planet that we would visit.
The pie tastes as good as it looks, nevermind what Mrs Chongky might say about it. I’m definitely going back for more.
And please don’t tell my mummy that besides the mini crumpler that i didn’t tell her, i bought 2 more mini crumpler, and might be going back to take a look again (don’t tell Mrs Chongky the latter bit).
It’s always better to have a good bag for holidays, isn’t it?
I don’t believe what we just did. Went up, and down again. If the total milage adds up, i would be in NYC now. Yet we didn’t go that far.
Dumbasses.
So after 3 air plane meals, enough mix of different alcohol to get me drunk but not enough to knock me out (and i suffered a night of restlessness), we’re finally here. It’s not yet summer, so it’s still quite cool.
More details later on.
As Mrs Chongky puts it, army ration has chicken that has been dead for damn long.
LOL…
I think this is something that is very typical of Singapore heartlanders. Mummies would make their children eat bread for breakfast/lunch/dinner/on-the-go meals/in-between meals, and occassionally the diet includes cakes as well. I’m not talking about the cafe cakes that invaded Singapore towards the end of 90s. I’m talking about the old school sponge cake with colourful toppings, which used to set our mummies back by 50 cents per piece.
And the it became 60 cents, then 80 cents and now it’s 1 bloody dollar. The work of inflation. And of course, if i’m free i would go into Singstat worksite and pull out some data. But i’m reminded that i have to work on my paper soon, and that i have to meet Wayne to get climbing gear at 1.30pm.
Due to this heartlanders’ obsession over bread and butter issue, every heartlander child grows up with one bakery as an important part of his / her childhood. No one grows up with bread and no one grows up without a bakery.
For myself, i grow up while eating bread and cakes from Pine Garden. It’s amazing that i actually witnessed how this family business grew, from one shop to two shops (within less than 5 minutes walk of each other), from looking like any bakery to looking like posh bakery, from charging 3 mini tarts for $1 (when i was in sec 4) to charge 50 cents for the same mini tart.
Even the most familiar choc rice cream bun is more expensive now.
Now i have the freedom to decide what i want to eat, without asking Mummy for approval. I can eat choc rice cream bun every single day, if not for the price and the lack of time to cycle 20 minutes to buy the bun.
Nothing much changed at Pine Garden. Everything from last time remained. Even the fact that tv production still uses their outlets for filming purposes (and i used to exclaim that the bakery on tv is the 那一间面包店 when i recognise it on channel 8 drama serial). Except now they have premium cake that costs $2.
Like Lychee Martini cake.
Check out the range of wedding cake on their website. I don’t remember fanciful designs when i used to stay in amk.
I realised that over the years in SMU, i have turned into an internet freak. I do all sorts of weird things online, and Mrs Chongky can attest to it.
And the list includes searching for food.
If you haven’t heard of hungrygowhere, you really should go check this site out. Of course this isn’t something new, having been publicise all over, blogs, newspaper, you get the idea.
And of course, you need something else to compare. Never trust one single source completely. Go ieatishootipost then. Strangly all the food on this site look so good, so good that i don’t trust whatever i read on hungrygowhere.
If you’re wondering why the sudden interest in food, that’s because Mrs Chongky just said she would bring me out for dinner (yeah she wears the pants in the relationship, LOL). Naturally that implies i’m not going to have to pay for this dinner, so i should go find the best place to make her money well-spent. I’m not saying the my favorite Hans at Thomas road or the Chong Pang Nasi Lemak are not worth the money. It’s just that you see… we probably won’t be able to borrow the car after this week. If we need to go some ulu-nated place for dinner, we might as well go now. Now or… next year.
Let’s look at the top ten list at hungrygowhere.
Hee heee…
