Steamboat!!

After one day of Lunar New Year visiting our relatives, my sister generously decided to treat my family to a steamboat dinner at Liang Seah Street (near Bugis Junction). The little eatery offers authentic Chongqing steamboat style which I may not really familiar with. Though I went to Taiwan to eat their mala steamboat there, this Chongqing style is quite different. However at first when I went there, I thought that the food was quite lousy and expensive as it has few varieties to choose from. However, I was totally wrong. There is a split pot which you can order - one side is rich chicken broth soup and the other side is the herba mala or hot spicy soup. The mala soup comes in three degrees of spicyness so be careful what you choose.

Like mentioned, there are 40 food dipping items to choose from, quite little from my opinion. However, what they lacked in quantity, they make up in quality of the food items. The prawns are very fresh and juicy. The meat fillets are finely sliced and marinated to give a good flavour of the meat. There are authentic Chongqing food like handmade wonton, dumplings and noodles.

Overall, a definitely must eat. It is quite reasonably price for the freshness of the food and its service. More-over, the place is air-conditioned so you wouldn't perspire much when you drink the hot spicy mala soup.

Chinese New Year

On Chinese New Year Eve, our family always have our spring cleaning before we have our reunion dinner. I dunno why but our family always procrastinate until the last min to clean up our house. Then we became so rushed as everything is done at the last min, we became easily frustrated and snap at each other over tiny issues...however, once everything was cleaned up and we settled down to eat our reunion dinner, every bad grudges and arguments that we had with each other simply fades as we enjoy each other's company...weird ah? Every year, our family resolves to do our spring cleaning early but we always procrastinate and do it one the eve instead...

At the stroke of midnight on Sunday morning, Chinese New Year has finally come upon us...there's chinese goodies like pineapple tarts to consume, bak Gwa to chew and most importantly, ang pows (red packets) to collect from relatives. Am I too old to collect ang pows this year since I reached my 21st b'day? Apparently, I am only who thought so. My relatives gave me ang pows like nobody's business even though I am of legal age. Guess so long as you are not married, you will receive ang pows from them. After all, what's not to like money? If people gave u money for good luck, just graciously accept and thank them...who knows? you may need it in the future...

Happy New Year!

Famous Bak Gwa from Bee Chee Hiang

Valentine's Day

Is Love truly overrated these days? How many of us say ‘I love you’ and really mean it?

During this time of the year at Valentine’s Day, there will be many couples holding hands with bouquets of flowers from their loved ones, strolling down the beach or the street, gazing at each other’s eyes, thinking that they have found their perfect guy or girl. However, once their honeymoon period or their romantic gestures start to slowly fade, they will find that their love for each other wills also fade with due time.

Love has become temporary instead of long-lasting. They is no such thing as true love or ‘love and cherish you till the end of my life’ vows that they take during marriage. I am a cynic and skeptic of true love. Is there true Love? Do we really believe that there is someone somewhere waiting for us to be loved? In this modern past-paced lifestyle that we live in, it is hard to find love that is long-lasting, couples who are still happily married after 20, 30 years and beyond. Heck, it is even hard to find couples who are married for more than 5 years.

Nowadays, divorce has become the norm for the society and the number of divorces have been spiking like crazy. Look at celebrities’ lifestyle; they have made divorce a fashion statement. It has become a norm when someone has been married and divorce for a few times. Also, co-habiting has become the norm between couples who refused to commit their love legally. And same sex couples who want to commit their love, it is illegal to get married. Has the sanctity of Marriage becomes eroded that some couples divorce after their vows and some couples can’t get married due to gender issues. Is it wrong and cynical to say that Love doesn’t exist?

Afterlife

How many of us actually wonder what happens to us when we die? What actually happened to our souls once our body failed us? Is there truly a heaven or a place to go to that our religion has been promising us?

These thoughts came through our minds as my friends and I were discussing our post-life situation after Earth. Since, nobody has actually go to heaven and gave us a review of the supposedly wonderful place, I actually wonder whether if it exists at all. If it doesn’t exists, then what is the purpose of our live on Earth? Every religion promises us a place to go to if we do good deeds to one another and have faith. However, ever wonder if we are wrong? What then happens to our life here?

Similarly, some people are atheist, refusing to believe that there is God or someone with a higher power. Or some people are free-thinkers, refusing to commit to one particular religion due to their own personal fears or reasons. What if these people are right all along? That there is no God and every religion was a lie? That what we have believed for the past years has been all a hoax?

I think that everyone needs something to believe in, someone to have faith on, and someone that they can trust and counted upon. Though, some people may not place their trust and faith on religion and God, they may placed their trust and faith elsewhere, be it Science or their family. Yes, everyone needs something to believe in, especially during their darkest times of their life. Also, I believe somewhere deep down in each of us, we believe that there is a better place than Earth, a place where there are no disasters, no wars, no diseases and where everyone is at peace. Yes, everyone wants to believe that there is a better place to go, a place where their lives will be better, a place where their deeds on Earth will be rewarded, a place where they truly belong or else what we are doing now on Earth will become meaningless…

The Return of Lost

After three whole long months, Lost TV show is finally back!! Damn, I really missed the show since it went hiatus. This time, the show will be shown consecutively for the whole three months without any repeats. The last 6 episodes of the current season were good. Though there were mixed critics reviews for the current season, I must say that I really enjoyed them. The first episode where they showed the bird-eye view of the plane crashing was the best scene ever.

After three whole long months, Lost TV show is finally back!! Damn, I really missed the show since it went hiatus. This time, the show will be shown consecutively for the whole three months without any repeats. The last 6 episodes of the current season were good. Though there were mixed critics reviews for the current season, I must say that I really enjoyed them. The first episode where they showed the bird-eye view of the plane crashing was the best scene ever. Another great scene was the end of the 6^th episode where Jack (Matthew Fox) had Ben on the operating table and holding him hostage to demand his friends’ freedom…Matthew Fox’s acting had improved over the three seasons…there’s no denying him an Emmy nomination come in Sep….Also, the new character, Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell), whose motives were unclear, had really got me rooted and glued to her.

One peeve that I had was that I was kinda upset like the rest of the fans where they killed off an important character during the 6 episodes. The character was well-loved and didn't really deserved to die in my opinion...

Other than that, I can’t wait for the new season to come…welcome back…

Freaky Weather

There had been much recent freak weather in the world lately, floods happening in Malaysia and Indonesia, Spring coming earlier in Europe. Also, in New York, for the first time, winter is clearing fast. Soon, there will be a heatwave coming during Summer. Scientists are speculating that Earth is getting warmer. They predicted that by 2010:

• Temperatures will rise by 1.8 deg C to 4 deg C

• Sea levels will rise by 18cm to 59cm

Who’s at fault? The scientists said that human activity is a 66% possibility which contributed to the effects of global warming. Soon, sea levels will rise, coastline will change and islands will disappear forever.

Something must be done now. It’s now time for us to play a part to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and reduce our greenhouse gases emissions. With our present efforts to combat global warming, we can hope that they are enough to prevent the aftermath of another Hurricane Katrina or Asian Tsunami. If not, we must try to increase our efforts or we will be truly doomed in the future…

such pessimism...

But, amid the darkness of the clouds, there will always be light - a hope that we can do what is right rather than what we like...a hope that we can reduce the damages that we have already done to the environment...

Harry Potter comes out!!

Woah!! The latest and final book of Harry Potter will be out on this July!! I can't wait for this book. It will be bittersweet to say final goodbye to Harry Potter since I read the first book. Harry Potter is the new generation of fantasy books to many youths like Lord of the Rings is to the many youths after the WWII.