Happiness is not meant to be contained Try to suppress a smile and you’ll get a screwed up face like the ones my brother and I are displaying. Try to suppress laughter and you’ll risk busting a gut. There is no such thing as being overjoyed or being overwhelmed with happiness. So often we forget we can never have too much joy or happiness. Thank you brother and new sister-in-law for reminding us in celebration. We hope to reciprocate with as many blessings as you’ve given us in getting married today. Congratulations. (c) 2003-2008 Benjamin Lee / Mr Miyagi. Email: miyagi@miyagi.sg Technorati Tags: my brother got married today, weddings ShareThis Steeples The Price is Steeples Steeples Deli calls itself “the 1st deli in Singapore”, and says it was opened in 1981. Before that, we only ever had sandwiches at home. Nobody sold or made sandwiches in shops. No-one. Ever. It was dark days. Mothers complained and said things like “I wish you could buy a sandwich outside, because I’m so sick of making them. Sick! You hear me? Sick!” Tucked away in a corner of Tanglin Shopping Centre Not To Be Confused With Tanglin Mall, the seating in Steeples consists of stools in front of a counter where your sandwiches and other light meals are plonked before you after, as according to the sign, you have ordered and paid for them “before sitting down”. I’m assuming they do a brisk trade at lunch and is very quiet in the afternoons, like at 4pm when we got there to grab a coffee (which was very good, by the way) and something to eat. They were out of pastrami so my first order of a Reuben sandwich and my second order of pastrami sandwich were both rebuffed and we had to settle for a club sandwich ($9) instead. It wasn’t half bad, because the sandwich fillings were freshly made - the vegetables chopped, the egg fried and the bacon crisped, all in front of us while we waited after we had paid for our meal. We didn’t test to see if an alarm would go off if we sat down before we paid , the sign being so fierce and in all caps. But the nice lady at the cashier’s did tell us that she’d been very kind to charge us only $4 for a double espresso when she could have charged us $6, $3 being the price of a single espresso. So, yeah, so thankful. Steeples Deli 19 Tanglin Road #02-24/25 Tanglin Shopping Centre Singapore 247909 (map) (c) 2003-2008 Benjamin Lee / Mr Miyagi. Email: miyagi@miyagi.sg Technorati Tags: food, Steeples Deli, Tanglin Shopping Centre ShareThis Before that, every festival was only in 2D Uploaded with plasq’s Skitch! (c) 2003-2008 Benjamin Lee / Mr Miyagi. Email: miyagi@miyagi.sg Technorati Tags: 3D Festival, CNA, news, stupid headline ShareThis Before that, every festival was only in 2D Uploaded with plasq’s Skitch! (c) 2003-2008 Benjamin Lee / Mr Miyagi. Email: miyagi@miyagi.sg Technorati Tags: 3D Festival, CNA, news, stupid headline ShareThis Coming Soon: Simple Jack Check it out. Stars Tugg Speedman. (c) 2003-2008 Benjamin Lee / Mr Miyagi. Email: miyagi@miyagi.sg Technorati Tags: film, simple jack, Tugg Speedman ShareThis Coming Soon: Simple Jack Check it out. Stars Tugg Speedman. (c) 2003-2008 Benjamin Lee / Mr Miyagi. Email: miyagi@miyagi.sg Technorati Tags: film, simple jack, Tugg Speedman ShareThis What? People steal cars here? Read the manual: The ???Sport??? in Sport Utility Vehicle does not include ???Swimming??? - Photo by prakope I had the impression that car thefts were so uncommon in Singapore that people hardly ever bother to install car alarms and other anti-theft systems. But the scintillating New Paper reports that there’s been a spate of SUV thefts - 12 in 2 weeks! The cars are all in Johor or further up north by now. They love SUVs up there cos petrol is heavily subsidised and they fuck-care about the environment. So, you’ve been warned. Don’t be complacent. Lock your car and all that. (c) 2003-2008 Benjamin Lee / Mr Miyagi. Email: miyagi@miyagi.sg Technorati Tags: crime, Local news ShareThis What? People steal cars here? Read the manual: The “Sport” in Sport Utility Vehicle does not include “Swimming” - Photo by prakope I had the impression that car thefts were so uncommon in Singapore that people hardly ever bother to install car alarms and other anti-theft systems. But the scintillating New Paper reports that there’s been a spate of SUV thefts - 12 in 2 weeks! The cars are all in Johor or further up north by now. They love SUVs up there cos petrol is heavily subsidised and they fuck-care about the environment. So, you’ve been warned. Don’t be complacent. Lock your car and all that. (c) 2003-2008 Benjamin Lee / Mr Miyagi. Email: miyagi@miyagi.sg Technorati Tags: crime, Local news ShareThis Vale, Olive Riley Uploaded with plasq’s Skitch! World’s Oldest Blogger The Life of Riley (c) 2003-2008 Benjamin Lee / Mr Miyagi. Email: miyagi@miyagi.sg Technorati Tags: Olive Riley ShareThis Vale, Olive Riley Uploaded with plasq’s Skitch! World’s Oldest Blogger The Life of Riley (c) 2003-2008 Benjamin Lee / Mr Miyagi. Email: miyagi@miyagi.sg Technorati Tags: Olive Riley ShareThis Vale, Olive Riley Uploaded with plasq’s Skitch! World’s Oldest Blogger The Life of Riley (c) 2003-2008 Benjamin Lee / Mr Miyagi. Email: miyagi@miyagi.sg Technorati Tags: Olive Riley ShareThis You’re kidney me Photo by Wm Jas I read in one of our fine media outlets, I can’t remember which, that the Health Minister recently said something to the effect of monetarily motivated organ donations being a definite no no. When I searched for it, not only could I not find the quote, I read that the same said Minister “has not rejected the idea of legalising organ trading in Singapore but he said it must be studied more carefully”. U-Turn or see saw or whatever, here’s the thing: It is illegal at the moment, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there have been many more cases of organ trading here which have gone undetected, and with that, a burgeoning black market involving and, in my possibly ill-informed but humble opinion, unfairly enriching dodgy middlemen. Again, in my possibly ill-informed but humble opinion, if an organ trading legal framework could be put in place, such contracts would come under the scrutiny of the courts, and with that, the possibility of rectifying unfair contracts. It follows that both donor and recipient stand to gain from this. More importantly, donors who are financially motivated (i.e. poor) to trade their organs for cash can possibly be protected by this framework to ensure that their needs, financial and medical, are met with due care. Even more importantly, that takes out the fucker who asks for $300,000 to look for a donor for you when the donor is only getting $27,000. Have a good and careful study, Mr Minister, and do something right. Link: Yawning Bread Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll. (c) 2003-2008 Benjamin Lee / Mr Miyagi. Email: miyagi@miyagi.sg Technorati Tags: organ trading ShareThis You’re kidney me Photo by Wm Jas I read in one of our fine media outlets, I can’t remember which, that the Health Minister recently said something to the effect of monetarily motivated organ donations being a definite no no. When I searched for it, not only could I not find the quote, I read that the same said Minister “has not rejected the idea of legalising organ trading in Singapore but he said it must be studied more carefully”. U-Turn or see saw or whatever, here’s the thing: It is illegal at the moment, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there have been many more cases of organ trading here which have gone undetected, and with that, a burgeoning black market involving and, in my possibly ill-informed but humble opinion, unfairly enriching dodgy middlemen. Again, in my possibly ill-informed but humble opinion, if an organ trading legal framework could be put in place, such contracts would come under the scrutiny of the courts, and with that, the possibility of rectifying unfair contracts. It follows that both donor and recipient stand to gain from this. More importantly, donors who are financially motivated (i.e. poor) to trade their organs for cash can possibly be protected by this framework to ensure that their needs, financial and medical, are met with due care. Even more importantly, that takes out the fucker who asks for $300,000 to look for a donor for you when the donor is only getting $27,000. Have a good and careful study, Mr Minister, and do something right. Link: Yawning Bread Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll. (c) 2003-2008 Benjamin Lee / Mr Miyagi. Email: miyagi@miyagi.sg Technorati Tags: organ trading ShareThis We don’t serve plain water, only the fancy kind Maybe I can lick the dew off the leaves OK, the waiter didn’t say that, but it means the same thing. And I’ve blogged about this before. We were invited to birthday drinks on Saturday at 1 Rochester, hereinafter known as 1 Of The Places In Singapore That Will Not Serve You A Glass Of Water Gratis. It is very humid in Singapore, and I think it gets worse at night, and I think it should be mandated that all al-fresco dining establishments must serve plain water, as it is known in Singapore, to diners who ask for it. Not only does 1 Rochester not do that, their wait staff have also not been clearly instructed as to the policy of the management. One of their otherwise friendly and patient waiters apparently tells one of our parched friends that he’ll only get a glass of water gratis if he orders a main course. So, not only did we order mains, we ordered a couple of fruit sodas as well, and when we asked if we could have a glass of water on the side as well, seeing as we’ve worked up a bit of sweat trying to will a vacant parking lot to appear in the car park whose gantry still lifts up when the damn place is full, the waiter says, all sheepish like, that he is “sorry but we don’t serve plain water, would you like a bottle of San Pellegrino instead?” So we explain that we were told that with an order of main course comes the privilege of having a glass of water. The hitherto friendly and sheepish waiter baulks and asks, “which waiter told you that?”, but as soon as he’s said that, probably realises that his tone of voice might earn him a rebuke or two, responds in what he probably thinks is a concession to really unreasonable customers, that, “alright I don’t know who told you that, but since you were told that, I will serve ice-water all round, but normally we don’t serve plain water”. And so, drinks arrived, and we emptied our glasses of fancy sodas and plain water till our hearts’ content and our bladders’ capacity while wishing the birthday girl many happy returns, and grumbling about how it should be mandated that all al-fresco dining establishments must serve plain water, as it is known in Singapore, to diners who ask for it, because, come on, tap water doesn’t cost you much per glass. When my main course was served, it was the wrong order, but you know, fuck it, it’s late and I really didn’t want to be made to feel as if I was the one that made the mistake. One Rochester 1 Rochester Park Singapore 139212 (map) Tel: 6773 0070 (c) 2003-2008 Benjamin Lee / Mr Miyagi. Email: miyagi@miyagi.sg Technorati Tags: 1 Rochester, Local news, No water ShareThis We don’t serve plain water, only the fancy kind Maybe I can lick the dew off the leaves OK, the waiter didn’t say that, but it means the same thing. And I’ve blogged about this before. We were invited to birthday drinks on Saturday at 1 Rochester, hereinafter known as 1 Of The Places In Singapore That Will Not Serve You A Glass Of Water Gratis. It is very humid in Singapore, and I think it gets worse at night, and I think it should be mandated that all al-fresco dining establishments must serve plain water, as it is known in Singapore, to diners who ask for it. Not only does 1 Rochester not do that, their wait staff have also not been clearly instructed as to the policy of the management. One of their otherwise friendly and patient waiters apparently tells one of our parched friends that he’ll only get a glass of water gratis if he orders a main course. So, not only did we order mains, we ordered a couple of fruit sodas as well, and when we asked if we could have a glass of water on the side as well, seeing as we’ve worked up a bit of sweat trying to will a vacant parking lot to appear in the car park whose gantry still lifts up when the damn place is full, the waiter says, all sheepish like, that he is “sorry but we don’t serve plain water, would you like a bottle of San Pellegrino instead?” So we explain that we were told that with an order of main course comes the privilege of having a glass of water. The hitherto friendly and sheepish waiter baulks and asks, “which waiter told you that?”, but as soon as he’s said that, probably realises that his tone of voice might earn him a rebuke or two, responds in what he probably thinks is a concession to really unreasonable customers, that, “alright I don’t know who told you that, but since you were told that, I will serve ice-water all round, but normally we don’t serve plain water”. And so, drinks arrived, and we emptied our glasses of fancy sodas and plain water till our hearts’ content and our bladders’ capacity while wishing the birthday girl many happy returns, and grumbling about how it should be mandated that all al-fresco dining establishments must serve plain water, as it is known in Singapore, to diners who ask for it, because, come on, tap water doesn’t cost you much per glass. When my main course was served, it was the wrong order, but you know, fuck it, it’s late and I really didn’t want to be made to feel as if I was the one that made the mistake. One Rochester 1 Rochester Park Singapore 139212 (map) Tel: 6773 0070 (c) 2003-2008 Benjamin Lee / Mr Miyagi. Email: miyagi@miyagi.sg Technorati Tags: 1 Rochester, Local news, No water ShareThis GoThere.sg gets you there Uploaded with plasq’s Skitch! A few days ago Tym left a comment clueing me in on GoThere.sg, and like her and her friend Lucian, I think I have found the replacement for streetdirectory.com and every other online bus/train route planner our fine transport companies are struggling to put up. GoThere.sg simply rocks! I’ve been using it for a few days to plan my (driving) routes, and the bus and train information it comes up with in a jiffy makes me want to take buses and trains for when I don’t really need to use the car. Plus, after I blogged about Angus Steak House, I tacked the restaurant’s information on their map, and a couple of hours later, Jeremy Soh from GoThere.sg emailed to thank me for contributing to what they must have planned to be a treasure trove of user-contributed information. As for what the site can do to improve, I threw a spanner in the works and tried to plan a route from Orchard Road to KLCC in KL. It returned a tentative “Drive” instruction, with the option of “Try avoiding ERP”, while the spinning thing on the page has been spinning for the last 15 minutes, and I hope I haven’t broken anything. (c) 2003-2008 Benjamin Lee / Mr Miyagi. Email: miyagi@miyagi.sg Technorati Tags: gothere.sg, maps, streetdirectory.com ShareThis GoThere.sg gets you there Uploaded with plasq’s Skitch! A few days ago Tym left a comment clueing me in on GoThere.sg, and like her and her friend Lucian, I think I have found the replacement for streetdirectory.com and every other online bus/train route planner our fine transport companies are struggling to put up. GoThere.sg simply rocks! I’ve been using it for a few days to plan my (driving) routes, and the bus and train information it comes up with in a jiffy makes me want to take buses and trains for when I don’t really need to use the car. Plus, after I blogged about Angus Steak House, I tacked the restaurant’s information on their map, and a couple of hours later, Jeremy Soh from GoThere.sg emailed to thank me for contributing to what they must have planned to be a treasure trove of user-contributed information. As for what the site can do to improve, I threw a spanner in the works and tried to plan a route from Orchard Road to KLCC in KL. It returned a tentative “Drive” instruction, with the option of “Try avoiding ERP”, while the spinning thing on the page has been spinning for the last 15 minutes, and I hope I haven’t broken anything. (c) 2003-2008 Benjamin Lee / Mr Miyagi. Email: miyagi@miyagi.sg Technorati Tags: gothere.sg, maps, streetdirectory.com ShareThis Cosplay steak restaurant “But sir, you’ve already got such a big piece of meat!” - Photo by bnittoli The Japanese love their cows. So they massage them, feed them beer and sake, call them Wagyu and then slaughter and eat them. I’m not sure where the Wagyu we have at restaurants here are from, but they are pretty tasty when done nicely, and it’s the same at the Angus Steak House Not To Be Confused With The Black Angus Steakhouse Which Is Run By This Dude Who Likes “Classic, Disco, Hip Hop, R&B“. I haven’t dined at the local Black Angus franchises, but the one thing that Angus Steak House has over her black cousin is the waiting staff’s uniform - I can’t help but think that the waitresses look slightly ridiculous in their black and white maids’ costumes, and it seems that only the junior staff get to wear these togs. The older ones and the ones that bring you the menu, bill and answer the difficult questions (such as “can we change the sauces for the different steaks?” and “what’s a ‘Japanese Sauce’ made from?”) get to wear a more sober shirt and red bow tie. These days, junior wait staff everywhere are usually of the Mainland Chinese variety, so, at the Angus Steak House, you get young, sometimes bespectacled Chinese girls who speak heavily accented Chinglish and understand very little, if any, heavily accented Singlish, dressed as if for a Cosplay convention. That apart, service is efficient, and within five minutes of ordering your special set meal, any one of the number of Cosplay waitresses will place your starters, a very tasty bread bun and the appropriate cutlery on your placemat, and ensure that your glasses of water are refilled. The steaks are generally good, and I haven’t had a bad meal there in 3 outings, but apart from the costumes, it really is nothing fancy. Having said that, however, if you happen to be shopping on a Friday night (out of necessity), and you’re fed up with the queues at every other restaurant in Ngee Ann City at 8.30pm, you might want to pop in to this place on the fourth floor of Takashimaya because you’re very likely to get a table. Oh, and here’s a more useful review. Angus Steak House 391 Orchard Road #04-25, Takashimaya Shopping Centre Ngee Ann City Singapore 238872 Tel: 67356015 View Larger Map (c) 2003-2008 Benjamin Lee / Mr Miyagi. Email: miyagi@miyagi.sg Technorati Tags: Angus Steak House, cosplay, food, Local news, Ngee Ann City ShareThis Cosplay steak restaurant “But sir, you’ve already got such a big piece of meat!” - Photo by bnittoli The Japanese love their cows. So they massage them, feed them beer and sake, call them Wagyu and then slaughter and eat them. I’m not sure where the Wagyu we have at restaurants here are from, but they are pretty tasty when done nicely, and it’s the same at the Angus Steak House Not To Be Confused With The Black Angus Steakhouse Which Is Run By This Dude Who Likes “Classic, Disco, Hip Hop, R&B“. I haven’t dined at the local Black Angus franchises, but the one thing that Angus Steak House has over her black cousin is the waiting staff’s uniform - I can’t help but think that the waitresses look slightly ridiculous in their black and white maids’ costumes, and it seems that only the junior staff get to wear these togs. The older ones and the ones that bring you the menu, bill and answer the difficult questions (such as “can we change the sauces for the different steaks?” and “what’s a ‘Japanese Sauce’ made from?”) get to wear a more sober shirt and red bow tie. These days, junior wait staff everywhere are usually of the Mainland Chinese variety, so, at the Angus Steak House, you get young, sometimes bespectacled Chinese girls who speak heavily accented Chinglish and understand very little, if any, heavily accented Singlish, dressed as if for a Cosplay convention. That apart, service is efficient, and within five minutes of ordering your special set meal, any one of the number of Cosplay waitresses will place your starters, a very tasty bread bun and the appropriate cutlery on your placemat, and ensure that your glasses of water are refilled. The steaks are generally good, and I haven’t had a bad meal there in 3 outings, but apart from the costumes, it really is nothing fancy. Having said that, however, if you happen to be shopping on a Friday night (out of necessity), and you’re fed up with the queues at every other restaurant in Ngee Ann City at 8.30pm, you might want to pop in to this place on the fourth floor of Takashimaya because you’re very likely to get a table. Oh, and here’s a more useful review. Angus Steak House 391 Orchard Road #04-25, Takashimaya Shopping Centre Ngee Ann City Singapore 238872 Tel: 67356015 View Larger Map (c) 2003-2008 Benjamin Lee / Mr Miyagi. Email: miyagi@miyagi.sg Technorati Tags: Angus Steak House, cosplay, food, Local news, Ngee Ann City ShareThis Lovingly restored Isn’t she pretty? It’s a sad thing that we’re so used to sub-standard customer service here that when sales and service staff actually display any bit of pride and love in their work, we’re impressed to the point of wanting to blog about them. That’s not to say that Jenny of Silic Lighting Centre merely has a modicum of pride and love in her work. As I blogged previously, hers was the only shop along Balestier Road (aka Lighting Avenue) whose occupants even entertained the idea of trying to fix my mother’s old Tiffany lamp. Some time last week, Jenny called to tell me that she found some parts that would fit the lamp, although they weren’t exactly a match for the old brass parts, and for the parts she couldn’t find, that she had gone to her company’s factory and made the parts to fit the lamp. Then she told me that she had to bill me about $150, and asked if that was ok. I was so thrilled I said yes and she then asked me to bring the lamp shade because she wanted to take a look at it. When I got to the shop with the lamp shade, Jenny assembled the whole thing and then turned on the lamp and admired it for a few quite seconds before she took a paint brush from her desk and brushed the dust off the lamp shade, sighed, and remarked how pretty it was, and how my mother must have been sad to part with it. Because it looked like it was going to rain, and because I was illegally parked, I thanked Jenny and said I’d bring in more lights for her to fix if any more of my mother’s hand me downs needed fixing. Then she says, “Actually, we don’t do repairs, but I knew you wouldn’t be able to get that lamp fixed anywhere else”. Silic Lighting Centre 509 Balestier Road Singapore 329848 (map) Tel: 63561629 (c) 2003-2008 Benjamin Lee / Mr Miyagi. Email: miyagi@miyagi.sg Technorati Tags: balestier, customer service, lights, Local news, tiffany lamp ShareThis Lovingly restored Isn’t she pretty? It’s a sad thing that we’re so used to sub-standard customer service here that when sales and service staff actually display any bit of pride and love in their work, we’re impressed to the point of wanting to blog about them. That’s not to say that Jenny of Silic Lighting Centre merely has a modicum of pride and love in her work. As I blogged previously, hers was the only shop along Balestier Road (aka Lighting Avenue) whose occupants even entertained the idea of trying to fix my mother’s old Tiffany lamp. Some time last week, Jenny called to tell me that she found some parts that would fit the lamp, although they weren’t exactly a match for the old brass parts, and for the parts she couldn’t find, that she had gone to her company’s factory and made the parts to fit the lamp. Then she told me that she had to bill me about $150, and asked if that was ok. I was so thrilled I said yes and she then asked me to bring the lamp shade because she wanted to take a look at it. When I got to the shop with the lamp shade, Jenny assembled the whole thing and then turned on the lamp and admired it for a few quite seconds before she took a paint brush from her desk and brushed the dust off the lamp shade, sighed, and remarked how pretty it was, and how my mother must have been sad to part with it. Because it looked like it was going to rain, and because I was illegally parked, I thanked Jenny and said I’d bring in more lights for her to fix if any more of my mother’s hand me downs needed fixing. Then she says, “Actually, we don’t do repairs, but I knew you wouldn’t be able to get that lamp fixed anywhere else”. Silic Lighting Centre 509 Balestier Road Singapore 329848 (map) Tel: 63561629 (c) 2003-2008 Benjamin Lee / Mr Miyagi. Email: miyagi@miyagi.sg Technorati Tags: balestier, customer service, lights, Local news, tiffany lamp ShareThis Noisy no coffee come out While the rest of the world were queueing up for an iPhone 3G, I went and took our Krups fully automated espresso machine to Changi to get it fixed. The receptionist was friendly and made small talk about coffee when she recognised me from less than a month ago when I took the thing in to be repaired. Then she got a “Chinese lady” to attend to me because “she’s the expert with all the coffee machines because today many coffee machine come in”. The “Chinese Lady” came to the front desk, and asked what was wrong with our fully automated Krups, so I said, “it doesn’t work when you press the button for any of the preset coffees, and it makes a really loud noise and it doesn’t stop until you turn off the machine.“ She said, “Like this?” and started to mimic the noise a lawnmower makes when it goes over a mound of pebbles, turning the Malay Receptionist into a tudung-covered bunch of giggles. “Oh, so you know that noise”, I said. “But it’s normal for it to make that noise what”, she said. “No, it’s not, it’s ten times louder than the grinding noise the machine makes when it’s grinding the coffee beans”, I said, “Plug it in an you’ll know what I mean”. So she plugged the machine to an outlet and turned it on, and sure enough the lawnmower effect came on loud enough for the two other men sitting on the sofa in the reception waiting to send in their broken Rowenta vacuum cleaner to remark, “Wah, liddat make coffee one ah?” So, the “Chinese Lady” laughed and shot a stern look at Malay Receptionist because she’s almost laughed the tudung off her head, and that really wouldn’t have been nice, and proceeded to type out a service request statement for me. She took an age before finally deciding to type in all caps: NOISY NO COFFEE COME OUT. I can’t wait till the Krups GOT COFFEE COME OUT, AND NOT SO NOISY ANY MORE. (c) 2003-2008 Benjamin Lee / Mr Miyagi. Email: miyagi@miyagi.sg Technorati Tags: krups ShareThis Noisy no coffee come out While the rest of the world were queueing up for an iPhone 3G, I went and took our Krups fully automated espresso machine to Changi to get it fixed. The receptionist was friendly and made small talk about coffee when she recognised me from less than a month ago when I took the thing in to be repaired. Then she got a “Chinese lady” to attend to me because “she’s the expert with all the coffee machines because today many coffee machine come in”. The “Chinese Lady” came to the front desk, and asked what was wrong with our fully automated Krups, so I said, “it doesn’t work when you press the button for any of the preset coffees, and it makes a really loud noise and it doesn’t stop until you turn off the machine.“ She said, “Like this?” and started to mimic the noise a lawnmower makes when it goes over a mound of pebbles, turning the Malay Receptionist into a tudung-covered bunch of giggles. “Oh, so you know that noise”, I said. “But it’s normal for it to make that noise what”, she said. “No, it’s not, it’s ten times louder than the grinding noise the machine makes when it’s grinding the coffee beans”, I said, “Plug it in an you’ll know what I mean”. So she plugged the machine to an outlet and turned it on, and sure enough the lawnmower effect came on loud enough for the two other men sitting on the sofa in the reception waiting to send in their broken Rowenta vacuum cleaner to remark, “Wah, liddat make coffee one ah?” So, the “Chinese Lady” laughed and shot a stern look at Malay Receptionist because she’s almost laughed the tudung off her head, and that really wouldn’t have been nice, and proceeded to type out a service request statement for me. She took an age before finally deciding to type in all caps: NOISY NO COFFEE COME OUT. I can’t wait till the Krups GOT COFFEE COME OUT, AND NOT SO NOISY ANY MORE. (c) 2003-2008 Benjamin Lee / Mr Miyagi. Email: miyagi@miyagi.sg Technorati Tags: krups ShareThis Al-Fresco is not a terrorist organisation that operates outdoors Best quesadillas we’ve had in the dark We had the pleasure of dining with Loyal Reader Lincoln last night, finally getting ourselves to Rochester Park something like 10 years after they redeveloped it into a unique dining and recreation enclave with no parking. It is Wagyu Month at North Border, and while we’re normally quite bleah about Wagyu, we gave it a shot and it was really quite good, as were the quesadillas and the Sante Fe crab cakes. Which were really quite kick-ass. As in good. Speaking of ass-kicking, and unbeknownst to many, there is also a little kiosk inside the restaurant for people who are into ass-kicking chili and other gut-burning sauces, and well, sells the largest array of these sauces and condiments outside of AZ, NM, CO and UT, where the climate and terrain is so dry and inhospitable, people find it necessary to consume these things just so they can ask themselves “what the fuck have I just done coz there is no water?” But at Rochester Park, it’s not so bad. There’s water, and there’s a proprietary Bailey’s ice-cream you can order to quell the fire in your mouth and belly if you’ve been silly enough to try some of the stuff. North Border Bar & Grill 2 Rochester Park Singapore 139213 Tel: 67776618 View Larger Map (c) 2003-2008 Benjamin Lee / Mr Miyagi. Email: miyagi@miyagi.sg Technorati Tags: food, north border, southwestern ShareThis Renewable entitlement I have to admit to enjoying watching Top Gear even though in this day and age, it really is wrong to enjoy fossil-fuel burning and carbon emitting activity but I suppose just watching is ok and if the world ends just blame the organisers. Having said that, I boldly propose that the organisers of all motor-racing activity have a carbon-emission cap as one of their race rules - so that this 100% electric sports car, the Electric Lightning, can be one of the entrants. 0-60mph in 4 seconds, 700 bhp and 200 miles on a single charge says its something worth considering if you still like your car to be fast and mean while being eco-conscious. Only thing is, electric cars are a lot quieter, and you’ll have to use the “programmable external engine sound generator” to make it sound like a regular carbon emitting sports car. And I’m also hoping that Top Gear comes round and starts featuring electrics instead of, as this Guardian article reports, “racing a G-Wiz electric car against a table”. (c) 2003-2008 Benjamin Lee / Mr Miyagi. Email: miyagi@miyagi.sg Technorati Tags: car, climate change, electric, electric lightning, environment, Green ShareThis Leave a video comment Uploaded with plasq’s Skitch! I’ve been using Disqus for the commenting system on this blog for several months now, and they’ve recently added two new features - trackbacks and video commenting. Yes, video commenting. Go play with it! (c) 2003-2008 Benjamin Lee / Mr Miyagi. Email: miyagi@miyagi.sg Technorati Tags: disqus ShareThis Krups is krap The stickers with my name on them were put there by the service centre… I’m gonna be collecting them like WW2 aces did when they shot down enemy planes. A year and a half ago, Naomi’s mother gave us this Krups fully automated espresso machine, and being espresso addicts, we were thrilled. We set the machine up in the dining area, read the manual carefully, bought our favourite beans, and enjoyed several cups of coffee before the damn thing broke down a week later, a week outside its warranty period. To get a Krups machine repaired in Singapore, you have to take it yourself to their contracted service centre, run by a company called Richland Group Limited, whose website will tell you absolutely nothing about repairing coffee machines. Some more, they’re located in a warehouse type building in Changi, so, bringing your machine there is a bitch unless you live in Changi. The first time I took our machine to be fixed, it cost about $80 including parts and GST, and the lady there told me that the machine would be under a month’s warranty after that. Just under a year after that, our fully automated espresso machine’s LCD display read “Service 1″ when I turned it on one morning. The manual said if the machine’s LCD display read “Service n”, to try unplugging the power, then plugging it back in and turning it back on. It didn’t work, so it was back to Changi, to Richland Group’s massive warehouse building, and to pay $80 including parts and GST to get it fixed. The engineer attending to me said that an “O-Ring” needed to be replaced. So I just shrugged and paid and brought the machine home a week later to enjoy our espressos again. It’s been 3 weeks, and yesterday morning, after the fully automated espresso machine had fully automatically ground a handful of arabica beans, it made this horrendous noise not unlike that which a lawn mower makes when you run it over a mound of pebbles, and it refused to stop making that noise until I unplugged the thing. I’ve tried plugging it back and turning it back on, but it’s still running over that mound of pebbles. I’m fed up, and wondering if anyone has the same problem with any fully automated espresso machine, and whether they’re from Krups, because at the Richland Group Limited’s service centre, the shelves are chock full of espresso machines that have been sent for servicing and repair. Uploaded with plasq’s Skitch! (c) 2003-2008 Benjamin Lee / Mr Miyagi. Email: miyagi@miyagi.sg Technorati Tags: appliances, espresso machine, krups ShareThis Forget work, Plurk “It’s like Twitter and MSN had babies”, says a fellow Plurker who’s assuring me that I’ll get used to the latest bees’ knees of social networking web 2.0 IM gadgetroniconicalthingie. Uploaded with plasq’s Skitch! So, yeah, here’s my Plurk page thing. (c) 2003-2008 Benjamin Lee / Mr Miyagi. Email: miyagi@miyagi.sg Technorati Tags: Plurk ShareThis Know where the gantries are before you drive out and go broke Uploaded with plasq’s Skitch! Motoring magazine oneshift.com has a nifty ERP/GoogleMaps mash-up which should prove useful for people who need to know where the gantries are before driving out. Check it out and get angry. (c) 2003-2008 Benjamin Lee / Mr Miyagi. Email: miyagi@miyagi.sg Technorati Tags: ERP ShareThis Their man in Singapore Sign - Peninsula Plaza “Our man on the internet”, Lancerlord sends a link to a short Times UK article by a Ben Kiggell listing things to do and places to eat at in our great city. Some of the attractions and suggestions he lists are nothing short of hilarious. Eat here A meal at one of the many open-air hawker centres is a great way to try local food. For a top-end experience, we love Flutes at the Fort (www.flutesatthefort.com.sg). Must do The Botanical Gardens are amazing. Less obvious, but a real gem, are the walking tours detailed on www.singaporewalks.com. There’s a different one every day of the week. Avoid A lot of what pass for tourist attractions in Singapore - the Merlion at Marina Bay and the world’s largest fountain at Suntec City - are pointless. Don’t waste your time. Top shop Lim’s Art & Living in Holland Village (00 65 6251 5151) doesn’t look like much as you walk in, but is absolutely bursting with decorative, functional buys. A to B Taxis are inexpensive and usually plentiful, but call and book at peak times and when it’s raining. Insider tip At night the little side street next to Lau Pa Sat hawker market is closed to traffic, filled with tables and chairs, and turns into “Satay Street”, where a dozen stalls grill satay in the open air. Flutes must be so top-end that I’ve never heard of anyone else say anything good about it. And Lim’s Art & Living? Hahahahahhahaha. Dude! The full name of the shop is “I am Mr Lim and I make a Living passing these things off as Art to Ang Mohs… Pte Ltd”. But alright, a couple of correct tips: Merlion and Fountain of Welfare at Suntec are pointless. For a sort of interesting “walk” though, I had a chance on Saturday to walk through Peninsula Plaza, and was amazed to find that it’s become “Little Burma”. There are Burmese shops on every floor, selling all manner of Burmese goods, services and high-speed internet access. And it’s just great, the sights, the smells (omigod the building needs proper ventilation), the sounds. And don’t you just love it when the city gets divvied up into different ethnic enclaves, just like in days of Empire? The Indians on Serangoon, the Chinese on the River, the Filipinos on Orchard, and the Americans and Europeans at Lim’s Art & Living. Ah… Gotta love this city-state. (c) 2003-2008 Benjamin Lee / Mr Miyagi. Email: miyagi@miyagi.sg Technorati Tags: Burma, Burmese, Expatriate, Lim's Art & Living, Local news, Myanmarese, Peninsula Plaza, UK ShareThis