Happy National Blogger Day and Happy Deepavali

27 October 2008 is the first anniversary of Indonesia's National Blogger Day. Therefore, I would like to wish all Indonesian bloggers a very happy National Blogger Day.

And since this very same day is also a Diwali day (which is a public holiday here in Singapore), I also would like to wish a very Happy Deepavali to all my Indian friends who celebrate the festival of lights.

Azmi's Raya Open House and Alysha's Birthday Party

Date: Saturday, 25 October 2008
Location: Azmi and Ayu's residence, Bright Hill Drive, Singapore

Claypot Chicken Rice

My first encounter with claypot chicken rice was in Malaysia. I immediately fell in love with this dish, rice cooked in a claypot together with all the additional ingredients such as diced chickens, vegetables and, most importantly, the spices, thrown in. Cooked over charcoal stove, and served with the pot while still hot. Wonderfulicious. :)

Since it's a Chinese traditional dish, it's quite difficult to find halal claypot chicken rice in Singapore. Normally, I would go to Johor Bahru to look for this dish, notably the food courts at Johor Bahru's City Square and Tebrau City. Therefore, it was a very delightful surprise to see this dish in one of the stalls at Banquet halal food court, located on the basement two (B2) floor of VivoCity shopping mall, Singapore.

On a side note, Banquet VivoCity is one of our favourite Banquet outlets, other than the Bagus by Banquet at IMM and Banquet Jurong Point. In Banquet VivoCity, the kids would normally go with the chicken rice, other than fish and chips or chicken cutlet from the western stall. For me, another favourite dish there is the cockles kway teow.

Julie's Biscuits also Tainted with Melamine

Picture courtesy of Channel NewsAsia.

I was very surprised (if not shocked) when I read from today's Weekend Today newspaper (which I get for free in my doorstep everyday, by the way) that some (or all?) of Julie's biscuits made in Malaysia are also tainted with melamine.

This is because our family (myself, my wife and the kids) has been buying Julie's biscuit products all this while. Inka is a great fan of Julie's wheat crackers (see above picture) while Julie's Cocoro crispy chocolate wafer rolls are also one of our family's favourites.

Yes, the Agri-Food and Vetenirary Authority (AVA) has reassured that the levels of melamine in the affected products are very low, and one has to consume large quantities of the contaminated products over a prolonged period of time before it can affect his/her health. But this still cannot much relieve our worries, especially since we have been consuming the affected products for quite some time.

Flickr-ku sayang, Flickr-ku malang...

Since I use Facebook quite often now, I'm a bit "neglecting" my Flickr account. Especially since I now has less time in front of my computer for my personal activities (since mostly they are for work-related). I also just realised that I have not been uploading my pictures, let alone "photo-blog-walking" there, for couple of months!

Actually, I felt sorry in neglecting my Flickr account, since I met quite a lot of friends there. For example, I knew and met Satya, Chandra, Ivan, Tata/Wati and Mdamt through Flickr. With the exception of Tata and Wati (whom I always can find everywhere), the others are not really active on any other photosharing and social networking sites such as Multiply and Facebook, so I kinda miss them quite a lot. :)

So, Flickr... here I come... again... :) :) Hopefully I will have the time so that I won't neglect you too much... hopefully... :)

Tang Tea House

Date: Sunday early morning, 19 October 2008.
Location: Tang Tea House, Simpang Bedok, Singapore.

Last Saturday night, I took Irza out for supper, while Inka has already sleeping. Since were were not too sure where to go, I decided to go to Tang Tea House.

This MUIS-certified halal Chinese "makan" place is recommended by my friends from the IMAS community. Its specialty is the tim sum, although it also provides any other types of dishes such as chicken rice, seafood and even shark fin soup.

It was past midnight when I and Irza reached there. It's located at Simpang Bedok, along Bedok Road, opposite the Bedok Market Place. It provides a very nice and cozy alfresco seating arrangement. It's just a short 15 minutes walk from Tanah Merah MRT station, although if you don't want to walk, you can also take bus number 2 or 9 from Tanah Merah MRT station, or bus number 10 from Tampines bus interchange.

I ordered four (yes, it's FOUR) dishes of tim sum: my favourite chicken feet, siew mai (siomay in Indonesian), har kow (shrimp dumplings) and chicken pau, which is requested by Irza since it's his favourite.

However, Irza loves the chicken rice, which I specifically ordered for him. His comment is that even without the chicken and the soup, the rice itself is very nice. He also loves the har kow with the shrimp inside.

The price is, surprisingly, reasonable. A dish of siew mai (3pcs) and har kow (3pcs) costs $2.50, chicken feet costs $2.20 and chicken pau (2pcs) costs only $1.60. My longan drink only costs $1.80 while Irza's milo dinosaur costs $2.80. His chicken rice (a set of rice, chicken and soup) costs only $3.

Bowling at The Chevrons

Date: Sunday, 12 October 2008
Location: The Chevrons, Jurong East, Singapore

Bowling is one of the kids' favourite pastime activities. Orchid Bowl, which is located at the fourth floor of The Chevrons in Jurong East, about 15 minutes' drive from our home, is one of our favourites.

Another favourite bowling alley of ours is the new Orchid Bowl at e!Hub Downtown East, which is located in Pasir Ris. It has automatic gutter barriers so the kids can bowl with the barriers while we can bowl without the barriers, on the very same lane. Unfortunately, it's quite far from our home since it's located on the other side of the island.