Category Archives: Occasions

29th April – 3rd Wedding Anniversary

Posted in FOOD AND MORE FOOD, Occasions by

According to traditional meanings – a 3rd year wedding anniversary is signified by “leather”. why leather? Not sure – nonetheless, leather products are one of Kim’s fav. “)

‘Cos I was nursing a flu, we decided to keep the celebration simple. Decided to go to East Coast Park to a small Japanese-fusion restaurant called Zen Cafe – Shindoart 

It is a small dimly lit restaurant which ain’t too eye catching. Believed we are the first customers for dinner; so had the whole restaurant to ourselves. Nice.

 

View of restaurant (in-door seating)
View of restaurant (in-door seating)
another view of restaurant interior (taken with night scene-this is more like the actual view)
another view of restaurant interior (taken with night scene-this is more like the actual view)

 

We decided to splurge a little since it is our wedding anniversary. So I took a value set comprising of

1) a starter – mango prawn fritter/roll

2) Oriental mushroom soup

3) Main course – Tempura fish & chips

4) Dessert – Zen Tiramisu

5) Drinks – I upgraded to a warm honey lemon ‘cos of my flu

Kim shared my meal and ordered another main course  – Kobe-style beef, a tom yum soup and a cold honey lemon.

The mango prawn roll is alright; passable – not amazing though. But for $3.80 (per serving), I am not complaining. The soups were great. Especially the oriental mushroom soup. It is mushroom-ish yet with a sweet aftertaste. Both soups are served piping hot – GREAT!

Main courses – Tempura fish and chips is an interesting alternative to the usual beer-battered fish. Tasted a little healthier though the tempura flour do require some getting used to due to its “tangy-ness”. I personally loved the side – vegetable salad. The mayo is really unique and not overly creamy for me. sweet with a tint of sourish taste. Nice.

As for Kim’s Kobe-style beef – I think it is a bit “over-the-top” with the presentation and a little under in terms of taste. Both beef and mashed potato is served a little cold for my liking. Kim thinks it is fine though – but we tasted the “real-kobe beef” before; and this is nowhere near the original taste. No marbled meat nor melt in your mouth feeling. But will give it credit for creativity and passable taste for a beef steak dish.

The highlight was the dessert – Served once again “over-the-top” but really pretty though a little cheesy (check out the chinese writings on the plate). I LOVED the tiramisu! It tasted so home-made and the chef got the portion of each ingredients just nice. Wished it was a bigger serving though!! Can safely say – one of the nicer tiramisu I ever tasted before! 🙂

Overall, an affordable place to come for some fusion-art-inspired-Japanese cuisine. I will return to try the raw stuff that I can’t eat now!! 😛

Total amount spent for 2 = just slightly less than S$70

 

Mango prawn roll (almost gone before I could take a pic!)
Mango prawn roll (almost gone before I could take a pic!)

 

 

image 

no..not beer (i wish! esp in this warm weather!) – just honey lemon (love the warm lighting though)
 
 
 
 
 
tom yum soup
tom yum soup

 

 

my piping hot mushroom soup
my piping hot mushroom soup

 

Kim's kobe-style beef siting on a bed of mashed potato (a piece of art!)
Kim’s kobe-style beef sitting on a bed of mashed potato (a piece of art!)

 

 

My main course - Tempura Fish & Chips (loved the side salad!)
My main course – Tempura Fish & Chips (loved the side salad!)

 

One of my fav for the night - DESSERT! For one who doesn't really have a sweet tooth - this won my heart. Zen-tirimisu presented once again as a piece of ART!
One of my fav for the night – DESSERT! For one who doesn’t really have a sweet tooth – this won my heart. Zen-tiramisu presented once again as a piece of ART!

 

And of course ... stars of the night. :)
And of course … stars of the night. 🙂

Death

Posted in Occasions by

Death…is it scary? I am not sure who is more scared – the one facing it or the ones facing the one who is facing it. There was a documentary about death on sat, hosted by Billy Wang. He is one who has cheated the death of cancer and came to know God and love his family in a totally different way. The documentary asked many passersby and those chronically ill if they are scared of death. The overall conclusion is: death is a taboo topic especially in the Chinese traditions. But if you are “prepared”; i.e. you have organized everything and done all you need and want to do; death is nothing to be afraid of.

I found out that death is scary if it takes you by surprise.  After watching such a provocative documentary, I can’t help but be reminded when death took me by surprise last May.

We have just finished conducting our great grand-aunt’s funeral in Apr. She passed away due to old age; in her sleep. It was peaceful according to the witnesses.

Less than one month later, we are back at the same void deck; mourning the loss of our beloved Ah Ma (grandmother). It was the same HDB void deck that formed my childhood memories. The place where my brothers, cousins and I played, ran and chased. Ironically, it became a place engulfed in an air of uncontrollable grief, unstoppable tears and inconsolable heartaches.

Ah Ma left us in just less than 1 month after our aged great grand-aunt (lovingly known as our great grandmother because she isn’t married).

Why did death took us by surprise? Because she was healthy one day and the next day, she was hospitalized due to complaints of breathing problems. Thereafter she was diagnosed of lung cancer – uncommon for one who don’t smoke. The day she started on the cancer medicine, she was rushed to the hospital due to the tearing of her stomach linings.

It was a tough decision to make then- conduct an operation to mend the tear (high possibility of her passing on in the operating theatre due to lung failure) or let her be (i.e. watch her get weaker by the toxic in her body and eventually that will cause all her organs to shut down).

Both choices seemed to be not a choice at all! No one could make a decision or rather no one wanted to make the decision. But no decision is a decision by itself.

It was one of the toughest night that we spent in the hospital with her. Holding her hands and praying fiercely for a miracle.

Early next morning, we witnessed her opened her eyes one last time, looked around the room occupied by all who loved her, breathed her last breath on earth and left us with “miss-u-all” tears in her eyes. 

Death took us by surprise when we are least prepared for it.

But I know we are all trying to move on and believing that this will bring us even closer. And our loved ones continue to leave fond memories in our heart.

I doubt that one can ever be “fully prepared” for death. But when it arrives at our doorstep, it will be good to say “no regrets”. I have loved and fought a good fight of faith; no regrets.

I wanna grow old with you..

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I wanna grow old with you....

One of the photos that I liked during our photo shoot some 2+ years back. Believed that our wedding is one of the most iconic part of our life – thus it became one of the first thing I wanna blog about. I wanna grow old with you…. even when you hold the remote control.. haha.. it is quite true now!