Of Cupcakes and Crowds- Believe the Hype

In Singapore, almost everyone has the herd mentality. We would rather queue up for 15 mins to buy from a Chicken rice vendor (yes you, Tian Tian) then patronize one that delivers instant gratification.

In spite of claims of individuality and uniqueness, 'follow the leader' is the most common syndrome.

A week ago I was at Holland Village enjoying a bowl of Pho with my significant other when she interrupted my discourse on some life altering topic like the merits of beef over chicken or why the effect of high uric acid is often overstated.

"Look at that"

Turning around, I was half-expecting to see some streaking PhD research student but I just saw some giggly girls.

Nothing unusual, apart from the event that my wife is actually asking me to look at other girls.

"What?"

"The box. That's the 3rd group I saw carrying the box."

And it was, an innocuous brown box that actually looks like a mail postal box.

"It must be food. What else can interest so many Singaporeans?" I said, returning to my Pho.

7 or 8 more sightings later, it seemed improbable that we would leave Holland Village without tracking down the source of it.

Following the trail of individuals holding that brown box that approached ubiquity by now, we came to a blackboard that wrote

"Cupcakes upstairs" (I think, my memory's a bit fuzzy)

Well, we couldn't possibly leave empty handed after that.

So we walked upstairs in anticipation. The row of cupcakes looked absolutely inviting and I asked the lady if I may take a shot with my Android phone.
As I composed my shot- oblivious to my wife's "You think you LadyIronChef har?"- I could scarcely keep my hand from quivering. It smelled every bit as alluring as it looked.
"What flavors would you like?"
"Every- um give me this, this, this, this and this."
(Didn't take notes- I remember carrot, cookies & cream, chocolate, red velvet and something else)

Was it any good?

In general it was a tad sweet for my newly health-conscious sensibilities but I loved the texture and mouth feel of it. Moist without being soggy, just the right bite-feel.

And the aroma is heavenly.

It would be dishonest to say the cupcakes were anything less than delightful since it I consumed one before we reached the multi-storey car park.

5 cupcakes cost $16 which may seem pricey but I guess you can discern that the ingredients are neither cheap nor lacking.

Plain Vanilla Bakery's the name of the shop but it's anything but. Perhaps the box is but that was great marketing IMO. Packaging that stands out for its plainness.

Clever marketing, solid product.

Mee Pok Dry- My Faithful Friend

If you ask me what the quintessential Singapore food is, I would say fishball noodles, or more specifically meepok dry. 

As many who brave traffic conditions and high petty crime rates to cross the causeway would attest, food in JB is generally cheap and good. But when it comes to fishball noodles, they are nowhere near local standards.

Even the famous Ah Koong fishball noodles is not the fishball noodles that Singaporeans know and love so well- pork, liver and 'brown fishballs', that's not the fishball noddles we grew up with!

Furthermore, when it comes to meepok, well, it's not even close.

I used to have a bowl meepok noodles virtually everyday, sometimes twice a day. Morning in the school canteen- when I was in JC- and afternoon if I reach before the neighborhood stall closed.

The curious thing is that I'm not all that hot about fishballs either but it was the sum of the vinegar/chilli combo, the springy meepok, the fragrance from the fried lard bits and a bouncy 'mouth feel' from the fishball that comes together in an epic pinnacle that epitomizes the best of Singapore hawker food.
Even today when I eat out lesser- having a kid can do that you- meepok dry is a staple of my diet. Nary a fortnight passes when I don't succumb to my meepok cravings.
It is like an old friend, who stood with me through the years, from the meepok opposite my grandma's house, near my home, in my JC, Jurong West extension- just outside NTU, my first job, my wife's workplace, it was like an old friend that watched me grow. Even now, I found a new meepok stall just next to my daughter's nursery which she would join next year so it's like a meepok for every stage of my life.
Meepok for all seasons.

Shi Hui Yuan Hor Fun Specialty

Food is inspirational. At least for me it is. It can inspire me as a lazy single (more than 4 years ago) to switch off the idiot box that had been consuming my life to drive half an hour to have a simple hawker meal, from Ang Mo Kio to Geylang or Bedok- that's what a car is for.
In the days when I had too much time on my hands- read: before my daughter was born- food was not a necessity, it was an event.
"What are you going to do tonight?"
"I'm going Old Airport Road for dinner."
Okay so it's not exactly the stuff that will get me featured on any lifestyle magazine but it had its day in the sun.
So it would come as no surprise that I think about food all the time. From street food (hello Frog Leg's Porridge) to foreign cuisine (maguro sashimi for me please), count me in.
Yet few stalls or restaurants occupied a place in my heart- and this blog will eventually prove there's quite a bit of competition- like Shi Hui Yuan Specialty Hor Fun located at Mei Ling Market.
 My first encounter with SHY was roughly 10 years ago, when I went along with my church friend and his wife after a church service for brunch. It blew me away, the succulent, silky hor fun and the slurp-able goodness of the chicken feet was divine (okay wrong choice of word for a Sunday activity).
Subsequently, I frequently hoped we would go again- after all we met virtually every Sunday- but unfortunately his wife (who makes the decisions) never suggested that place again, at least while I joined them.
I never forgot the taste though but unfortunately it was a little inaccessible for me without a car, I never went back until I got a car. Even so, I was to discover things weren't always so smooth sailing.
Firstly, they were open only 4 days a week. And when they did, their official opening hours were only from 8am to 2pm and they usually start selling around 9 and are sold out by 1230 or so, just about my lunch hour. Then there's a full year renovation and their proclivity to close every other fortnight. In local speak we say 'tan gao liao'- 'they have made enough money'.
It was not an easy romance to be sure but it was worthwhile. Every time I ate it, it was a moving experience. Flavorful without MSG, you could eat oodles of it without feeling guilty. And nothing on your plate was there in a perfunctory manner- i.e. the vegetables were crunchy and fresh, the mushrooms were fat and juicy, not something thrown in to complete the dish. And I haven't got started on the hor fun and the main dish yet.
There may well be better tasting food out there but nothing quite touches my heart like Shi Hui Yuan Hor Fun Specialty.

Final Fantasy 7- The Beginning

Even if you are unfamiliar with video games, you will probably have heard of the Final Fantasy series. Perhaps you wonder where is the finality in a series with multiple (13?) sequels and spin-offs but its impact on the gaming industry cannot be overstated.

Of this gaming behemoth, Final Fantasy VII (FF7) was the installment most commonly credited with elevating Role-Playing-Games (RPG) into the western mainstream. It altered the gaming landscape and ushered in a hoard of Japanese style RPGs into the mass market, not just geeks who play with a Kanji dictionary in their hands.

It stole a great chunk of my life as well, on its own and subsequent sequels and similar games that made its way into my life as a result of it.

It started innocuously enough. It was 1998, I was in Uni and a senior who was graduating gave me his PlayStation. Then I was more of an arcade gamer than a console one, the last games console I owned was a Sega Genesis almost a decade ago when cartridges were the media of the day.

I recalled going wild on Ridge Racer but then another friend told me I owed it to myself to try FF7. Then, I was not unfamiliar with RPGs, having dabbled with D&D and M&M before. That would be Dungeons and Dragons and Might and Magic but if you needed a translation, it probably means nothing to you. ;)

So I did.

From the moment Cloud came down the stairs, I was hooked. Captivated. Addicted. Inseparable from my console. It helped that it was a term break after all. I ate in front of the console, switched it on when I woke up.

It was more than a game, the characters became part of my life, not surprisingly when you consider I spent more time with them than I did with any of my buddies.

In one of the most shocking moments in video games history, Aeris was killed. Not metaphorically but literally murdered in the story line. It was more than surprise, it was devastating. Like a man possessed I fought lethargy and the limitations of the human body to labor on to see if I could revive her.

Grief soon gave way to vengeance and I wanted to rip Sephiroth apart. His personality and arrogance did nothing to dissuade me.

Within 5 days, it was over. I blazed through the game and suddenly I felt a void. What was I to do with the remnants of my so-called life?

'Did you raise you chocobo? What about the Knights of The Round Table? Where's your pride?' My friend asked me?

Then I realized there were so many sub-plots and mini-games I missed out and it gave me renewed vigor. It took me a couple of months to explore FF7 again, this time savoring the moment slowly.

Today, if you look at the graphics you might cringe. Ooh, polygons in your hair? But back then it was groundbreaking. You can talk about the battle system, the audio but it was the characters and the story line that set it apart.

There have been many imitators that came along but there will only be one Cloud Strife.

Never Let Me Go- I Never Did

One of the most common element in a story is the turning point. The watershed moment that divides the whole account into two. It can be the moment where the cliched expression 'the tides were turned' would come in handy, such as the battle of Normandy for example.

It can also be the moment where the entire perspective, how the story is being viewed suddenly takes a radical, dramatic turn. Done effectively, it is haunting, moving and affecting. If you are looking at how to weave this into your story telling, you could do worse than Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go. Far, far worse.
The story had an innocuous start, a growing pains, coming-of-age type of tale. Yet at every turn, you know there's a secret lurking behind.
Then there is the moment- 'You mean they are bleeping clones?' And everything changes. You can't read it the same any more.
Having spent some time with Kathy and the children of Hailsham, a sense of pathos is wrought eventually and their possession of souls and personalities were never called into question.
Then you realize they are clones.
Can you look at them the same way again? Can you look at cloning in the same manner.
Ishiguro does not outright engage in activism but leaves the reader to his or her own conclusion. Like many of his writings, the ending is inconclusive, leaving a sense of emptiness in the reader but like the title of the book suggest, you can't quite let this book go.
Must have been 5 years or more since I read it and whenever I read about science ethics, this book emerges in my mind. One of the most evocative books I had read and for this I think Ishiguro can be forgiven for a multitude of literary sins (*cough* Nocturnes*).

Introduction

Yet another blog? I blog extensively for the webpage of the company I founded. Once in a very blue moon I will update a semi-dying blog that is somewhat related to my company in the sense that the subject matter is the same.

This blog however is a departure from my other writings as it has no direct commercial interests. It is a journal of the events, items,interests, music, sports, games, books that move me, inspire me, touch me and sometimes frustrates me.

It can be about food, especially the street food, local cuisine of Singapore, always a delight.

It can be about books- how many I have fallen in love with throughout my entire life.
It can be about things that I fallen in and out of love with in the past-for example videogames.
It can be about things that occupy my thoughts today- for example the Los Angeles Lakers.

In short, it is about things I care or cared about, enough to blog about and share with whoever is reading.
Things close to my heart.