A walk in the Reservoir

Joined my friends for a walk in MacRitchie Reservoir for some workout since my foot was acting up again when i went for a jog.
We did a 12km walk around MacRitchie, and was surprised to see many joggers and brisk walkers on a Saturday morning!  Guessed that Singaporeans are getting more and more healthy. 
Thank God, the weather was great, bright sunny day with breeze, cannot ask for more.  And one thing when you walked with P, he is always equipped nice chilled isotonic drink! :-)  Really enjoyed the walk and look forward to another walk with them.

Hort Park & Southern Ridges

Went for an afternoon hike with my friend, P.  We started at Bukit Chendu, walked througth the canopy walk, passed Hort Park,  Forest Walk, Alexandra Arch Bridge, 274m long Henderson Waves, Marang Trail, and finished at Vivo City.  Total distance probably about 8-9km.  We thought it would be easier to finish at Marang trail than to start there to avoid climbing a flight of stairs (elevation of 70 metres)

Map from N.Park website:

Hort Park:

On the way, we saw some monkeys at the forsest walk. They were not scare of human, and gladly posed for photos for the enthusiastic photographers.

In fact, I was very surprised to see so many photographers armed with DSLR at the Southern Ridges, some of them were even equipped with L lens!  Will wait for the day whereby everyone has a DSLR, so that the price of the lens wil be cheaper..heehee
We also bumped into a friend, SO at the Southern Ridges, though he wasn't with his DSLR as he was lazy :-P
Very impressed with the Hort Park and the Henderson Waves, Kudos to the National Park Board.

After a close to 3hrs walk, we had to finish with food to replenish ourselves (Actually this was just an excuse..heehee), so we head to The Queens & Mangosteen pub at Vivo City

Pub was relatively quiet, except for a big group who seems like having some celebrations.  We started with beer, the Samui Wheat Beer and the Aspara Lager.  The Samui Wheat Beer is described as a refreshing light Wheat Ale, with a hint of sweetness from Calamansi Lime and the fragrance of Pandan Leaves.   I would say that the hint of lime was really strong, and we wondered if they added the lime into the beer before they served!

Aspara Lager is your average light lager, nothing special.  But it was definitely refreshing after a 3 hours walk!

Fisherman's Pie

Lambchops: 

P and his fisherman's pie

Overall the food was quite average, only complain was that their nibbles were ridiculously priced.. i still prefer Brewerkz.  Else, it is still a decent place to have some beer and chill out.  Oh yes, you can get a nice night view of the resort world too :-)

The Queen & Mangosteen

1 HarbourFront Walk

#01-106/107 Vivo City

Tel:  6376 9380

Travel Dream

Went to the sgtravelcafe gathering on Friday, and was very inspired by the travellers.  They are not your usual tourist that go on a package tour, where the bus drop you at some momuments, snap some photos and get back to the bus.  They are not found in your usual destination too.  Just by talking to them inspired me, because they have the courage to do the things i always wanted to do, but dare not do.  They can quit their job and take a break, and go on a round the world trip.  And their destinations include South Amercia, or on your legendary Trans-Siberian. 

When i was jobless in July, i was contemplating the idea of taking a 3 mths break in Spain, to go there to learn Spanish.  i took beginners spanish some years back, and return most of the stuff to my teacher :-(  I really love Spain when i went there in 2006, so i thought of going there again since I was jobless.  However, when i shared the idea with my friends, most of them think i am crazy. 
"Are you crazy?"
"Economy is not good. You better look for a job than to travel"
"What happen if you spend all your $?"
"Aiyo, no job, still travel.."

So in the end, i also chickened out.  If only i spoke to some of the people in the travelcafe, i would probably just make the trip!

Anyway, that's history. With about 195 countries in the world, i don't think i can finish all the countries in the world, and i don't intend to.  So I have compiled my top 10 destinations, so that i can be focus :-)

Top 10:
1. Machu Picchu, Peru
2. Norway - Northern Lights
3. Jordan - Petra
4. Antartica
5. Hungary
6. Mexico
7. Greece
8. Romania
9. Egypt
10. New Zealand - Sky diving

Of course there are others such as Southern Spain, Southern Italy, take the Trans-Siberian rail, trek to everest base camp, Russia, Cuba, Argentina...

My favourite quote by Saint Augustine:
"The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page."

http://www.sgtravelcafe.com/index.php

Hidden Gem - Saraceno Ristorante

Polo & I wanted to buy iBank a dinner, because we did not know what to give iB for Christmas present.  And this was because we received a very expensive present from iB for Christmas.  At first Polo wanted me to tell iB that we wanted to bring her for an expensive dinner, and i had to remind Polo that expensive, to iB was of a different benchmark (for eg.  Gunther's, Iggy's) ..so we decided that we just asked her for dinner, without saying anything..heehee

We decided to go to Saraceno Ristorante based on the reviews in Hungrygowhere.  It was tucked away at Duxton Road, the area known for a number of pubs for the alternative lifestyle.  The restaurant was very quiet on a weekday night, and we were the first customers to arrive, so we had the luxury of choosing the tables, and we decided to choose the table in front of the wine cellar.  Service was quite good, with the waiter pulling a chair for us pur our bags, and also helped us with the table napkins.

We went for the set dinner menu and 2 separate alacarte orders.  Bread basket was complimentary.  3 different kinds of bread, but they tasted kind of same - salty!

Bread Basket

Appertizer- Potato and something, which we couldn' tell..haha

Parma Ham & Melon:

Main Course:  Cod Fish

Pasta:

Dessert were Tiramisu & Warm Chocolate Cake with ice cream, which was highly recommended by the chef, George.  Sorry no photo because my photo turned out to be really blur :-( The Tiramisu was not the usual type, It used biscuits to make into a flower basket, no lady finger, and very generous with coffee!

Polo & iB:

Total damage for 3 person was $132.  Quite reasonable.  The owner, Bobby was a friendly guy, and he couldn't take it that 3 of us were busy playing iphone games than eating.  He also gave us LimonCello from Capri to try.  Very good and very potent! Chef George was from Czech Rep, cute, young and a bit shy.  According to him, the restaurant had very quiet since opened in Feb 2009, they have tried to change their menu, pricing but still did not work.  I told him that I will not want such a good place to close, so I will rave about it in HungryGoWhere!  Check out the restaurant if you have the chance.  Only thing i do not like about the place was that the background music was a bit loud, but probably our laughter was louder! Hahaha

Overall: 8/10

Saraceno Ristorante

83 Duxton Road

Berjaya Hotel Singapore

Stamina Rebuilding & Italian

Went back to running after taking a 4 months break due to injury :-(
Really bad :-( Was panting and heart rate went up extremely fast...and after a while, had stitches!  Totally no stamina to speak about.. If only stamina is like a bank, can deposit and withdraw anytime you like... Anyway will persist to shred off the kgs i put on during festive season.

Anyway, let me introduce to you one of the culprits to my 3kgs- Italian food at Ristorante De Parma.  I bought my good friend, Panda, there for dinner, as I did not know what Christmas present to buy for her. 

The restaurant was rather empty at 1900Hr, only 1 table was occupied.  The ambience is your relaxing family restuarant, not that kind that will make you stiff.  However, being a family restaurant, don't expect to whisper sweet talks to your partner, as you would be distrubed by neighbourhood passerby who were talking loudly.  The table next to us were even dressed in shorts & tshirt :-)
So quite a friendly place for family (including kids and old folks)

We had the smoked salmon pizza and Bolognese Fettuccine as main course.  Dessert was tiramisu and a bottle of white wine, Hauts De Goelane Sauvigon Blanc and a regular coffee.

Complimentary bread was normal, served with olive oil & vinegar. 
We had the smoked salmon pizza before the Bolognese Fettuccine as the waiter saif that the pizza was lighter flavour compared to the pasta, so recommended to start first not as to spoilt out taste bud.  It was yummy!  Probably better than the one in Spizza.  The thin crust pizza was crispy, and the smoked salmon was fresh and not fishy.

Bolognese Fettuccine was average.  It was not bad, but nothing special.  So probably can skip that to save some space for dessert.

The highlight of the dinner:   Tiramisu!  One of the best Tiramisu i have tried (other than those Italy).  I am a great Tiramisu fan, always keen to try Tiramisu if it is on the menu.  However, am always disappointed as not all meet the standard, or my standard..heehee
I thought that basic ingredients for authentic Tiramisu don't vary much: Mascarpone cheese, raw eggs, sugar, espresso coffee, ladyfingers, liquor and cocoa, so the taste shouldn't varied too much.  Well, I guessed i was wrong.

So i was thrilled when i tried the Tiramisu in De Parma.  All the ingredients were nicely balanced, can taste the cheese, the coffee and the liquor.  Not like some tiramisu, no hint of liquor at all!  And it was really an heavenly treat to have such a tiramisu with balck coffee! Yum Yum!

Total damage for 2 was about $120.  Not too bad, considerating we had a bottle of wine too.  Would definitely return for their Tiramisu, or i want to have a nice italian restuarant outside of the busy town area.  Only complain grouse i had was that their table was very small, after all the cutleries and wine glasses and water glasses.  But the waiter was nice enough to let us change to a table of 4 though we have only 2 person.  So my camera bag took one seat ;-)

Overall rating:  8/10 (Because of the dessert)

Ristorante De Parma

14B Kensington Park Road, Serangoon Gardens.
Tel: 6281 3380, 6280 1096.
Closed on Wed, EXCEPT on the eve of a Public Holiday.
http://www.ristorantedeparma.com/

Indispensable & work of excellence?

I had a very interesting discussion with a friend today, let's called her A.  Some background of the story.  A is your typical employee that most boss will like.  She will not draw boundary, as long as she can do and the boss asked her to do, she will do.  For eg.  If A is a retail assistant, she can be helping at the loading bay, or clearing rubbish, or helping out at the display, or checking stock, anything, as long as she can do it!  So typically A works late night, because she will be doing everybody's job.

And the discussion came about because A was sick, quite seriously sick, running a high fever too.  But she still insisted to go to work, because she thought that the office will fail to function if she is absent. 

Part of the conversation goes like this
Me:  "You are sick.  Why are you still at work?"
A:  "Because the programmers are doing a system upgrade"
Me:  "Oh, i didn't know that you are a programmer!"
A:  "No, i am not"
Me:  "Err..then what are you doing in office"
A:  "To make sure that the programmers do their job, so that the system will work on Sunday"
Me:  "Do you know IT?  Have IT background?"
A:  "No"
Me:  "Then you should wait til the UAT"
A:  "Yes, i will do the UAT, but now i need to be here to make sure there will be UAT"
Me:  "So you think you are indispensable"
A:  "I need to ensure work of excellence"
Me:  "Why don't you just ensure your area?"
A:  "Then how to have work of excellence?"


???!?!?!
I was totally bewildered.  Never know that someone can have so wap idea of indispensable & work of excellence.  So if the CEO need to ensure work of excellence, he will be monitoring all issues, from minor to major ones.  How to cope as a CEO??
Anyway our "debate" goes on, but i will not go into details.  Just thought that it is a very strange thought to think that one is so important and indispensable...The earth will not stop turning because of one person, isn't it?  A person will be missed, but definitely not indispensable...

Relaxing breakfast at Rider's Cafe

I thought i will burn off some fats by tracking down Rider's Cafe, which according to many food bloggers, is tucked at some corner of Bukit Timah, near the Old Turf City.
Since i do not drive, my friend and i used the most economical method, public transport.  For the benefit of those who don't drive, you can actually catch Bus 66 or 170 outside Newton MRT (Take the exit on the left, toward Bukit Timah Rd), alight after 3rd avenue in Bukit Timah, and after about 15 mins walk, probably about 1.5km, you should see this sign:

It was surprisely crowded on a Saturday morning.  The cafe was about 90% full.  Though i requested for a balcony table, i did not get that upon arrival.  Nevertheless, the manager was helpful to say that as soon as someone leave, they would help to change us to the balcony tables.  Which they did, after about 10mins, so was pretty satisfied with their service.

I had the Rider's breakfast at $13 which consist of eggs of your choice, baked beans, toast, bacon strips/sausages and potatoes.  Coffee is not included. 

The food quality is average, and at $13, maybe it is not worth.  But for the nice rustic ambience and enjoying your breakfast with horses, with light morning breeze, it is definitely worth the money!  Definitely will be back!  Overall i will give it a 9/10.

And do remember to check out the area after breakfast.  It is actually of walkable distance to the Turf City, and from there, you can catch a free shuttle to Toa Payoh.

Rider's Cafe

51 Fairways Drive Bukit Timah Saddle Club

Tel: +65 6466 9819

http://www.riderscafe.sg/