Shermy Gold - the Winning Entry

Shermaine took part in Gold 90.5's Citibank Gourmet Pleasures Gold Food Review SMS Contest some weeks ago. Listeners were invited to send in a food review of any dining experience they have had, and I think the theme was Japanese that day. Shermaine promptly hammered an entry on her nondescript mobile phone and after a short while, received an sms reply from Hamish telling her that she won!

Sherm's winning entry:

When it comes to japanese food, it's gotta be Nara at Goldhill Centre. don't let the mysterious names of the courses put you off, but let the scrumptious food do the talking! The sashimi is always impeccably fresh, succulent and well-sliced. Thick enough for a luxurious mouthful when complimented with a daub of the excellent shoyu provided, a real sensory explosion! No tough sinews or limp fish here! California maki deserves praise too, stuffed to bursting point with tasty tamago and more, it's lifted from plain good to the realm of sublime from the deft addition of ground tea leaves as a topping. Savour each bite, intense but with a clean fragrant finishing note from the tea leaves - dangerously addictive. It's Nara for me!

Congrats Shermy! Well-written, and hunger-pang inducing! =D

Omakase

This post is long overdue. Shermy took me out for dinner on my birthday in April. We settled on Nara Japanese Restaurant cos it was part of our UOB credit card discounted places. It was a small restaurant with what Sherm termed as a very japanese place - including the use of space-maximising architecture.

One of the reasons I wanted to come here was cos of the long bar they had.. very otaku of me I suppose. Anyway, I looked at the menu and was stumped as to what to order. There was so much variety and of course, I couldn't tell for instance, one fish from another.

At the back of the menu, I saw - "the Dinner set". And immediately decided on that! Listed on it were generally titled "fried dish" ,"steamed dish" etc, if I remember correctly, about 6-7 items. And cos no specifics were given, I guessed it depended on what the chef's preference was that evening, thus omakase. Sherm chose the ladies' set and thus commenced our evening of indulgence.

What followed was a seemingly endless stream of food.. from the appetizer,

the fantastic cold tofu with pitan sauce for me, the awesome triptych of different taste and sensory experiences for yours! spicy wasabi octopus, smooth and rich monkfish liver, and salty seaweed salad!! =9
~Shermy

to the thick slices of raw fish (which sherm specified which 3 types we preferred - salmon, mekajiki and kanpachi - to the fish gindara saikyoyaki (cod grilled with miso paste) - the BEST COD EVER -, to the tempura mix, and then the sushi (the California maki is TO DIE FOR! Who ever thought of using green tea leaves to give it such a fragrance) and then the miso soup/ unagi chawanmushi, and finally ice-cream macha dessert. And on top of it all, good japanese beer to wash it all down, woot!

We learned in the end that if you ordered sets, you wouldn't get the UOB discount, but after that feast, we didn't really care, it was ALL WORTH IT~! Even the food from the ladies' set, seemingly 1 tier lower than the dinner set, was delicious, both sets complemented each other since the Ladies' set had a fried veggie dish while the Dinner set came with the tempura. Not to say the other dishes were the same, apart from our specified choice of sushi, the raw fish and the soup/chawanmushi, everything else was different. Highly recommended experience!

Thanks Shermy for the birthday dinner, it was a great treat!

Unfortunately it was dark, and my Samsungmobile cam couldn't get a decent shot of the food, so there's no accompanying pictures for this delicious entry.


Nara Japanese Restaurant
167 Thomson Road
Goldhill Centre
6256 6568

Overkill - by Prit

Love the geometry in this shot - you made a rectangle with a tripod and had squares patterns overlap in differing sizes!

Awesome shot by my buddy Pritpal. He's using this shot to take part in a competition. If you appreciate it and have something nice to say about it, do log in to your Flickr account and add a comment, fave it even.

Indiana Jones: Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Indiana Jones: Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - is a complete waste of time. What was Steven Spielberg thinking? How could they take a series of classic adventure movies involving mythical lore and ancient culture along with an intrepid archaeologist who happens to be an adventurer, several hot women and his father, and turn it into an.... ALIEN movie.....???

We're not talking abt forgivable alien movies like Aliens vs Predator, or Signs, or even Mars Attacks. You already knew there were gonna be aliens in those. We're talking kitschy flying-saucer, elongated medula-oblongatas made to look like they're transparent plastic constructs with cling-wrap stuff inside.. in a movie that has established itself to be about a rebellious archaeologist/adventurer toting a fedora and whip, who opposes Nazis at every turn and always manages to get away! Oh the sacrilege!!

I'd rather sit at home and watch ALL the previous movies on DVD every 10 years or so, than let them come out with a long-awaited episode, only to find out that they completely screwed the fans and the franchise over to make a silly (its not even a smart one) alien movie! I wanted to watch an Indiana Jones movie gawddammit - not an alien movie!! I felt so cheated!! Laudable mention to Spielberg for giving an early warning in the first scene, when the alien coffin was revealed with the words 'Roswell' on it.. "Step out of the cinema now, before your image of Indiana Jones is completely crushed and trampled on!"

Feeling nostalgic about an 80's movie set in the 30's-40's and feeling nostalgic abt said movie suddenly set in the 50's (the cold war, I like Ike references, bomber jackets and Marlon Brando bikers) is a very very different thing. Even the billy bomber's cafe scene looked more like it came out of an American-retro musical than anything resembling a movie.

I can go on about Cate Blanchett and her inconsistent accent, the humongous plot holes, as well as an incompetence regarding plausible physics (standing on the outside-edge of a vortex does not mean you're immune to the centrifugal forces), or disregard for Mayan/Peruvian culture (other than being Russian cannon fodder), or even Harrison Ford's unsuccessful attempt to replicate his patented "Indy Jones' grimace" because his aged cheeks are now quite obviously botox'd. Oops, I guess I did.

Only thing going for this overly-long movie (2.5 hrs?) is the Indiana Jones' theme song - The Raider's March -, several cave-running moments that did bring back the old Indy, and Shia LaBeouf made up as Marlon Brando from The Wild Ones (not even Indy related).

*thinks a few moments*


yup, nothing much else worth watching it for. Downright TERRIBLE.

Poor Shermy, her 1st X-men movie was part 3, and her first Indy movie was this. Along with Star Wars Episode 1, these are all lousy endings to excellent classics, and terrible introductions to people who want to find out about them.

Lucas and Spielberg are now officially TEH SUX big-time.

Broadway Beng 3

ok, I know this comes QUITE late.. but I caught Broadway Beng 3 on Mother's Day with the parents and Shermy, and I do HIGHLY RECOMMEND it! HIGHLY HIGHLY!
The run ends on 18th May (it has already been twice extended I think), and I'm unsure how many tickets are left due to its popularity.
What is it about? About an Ah-Beng who does Broadway songs lor.. You should have a basic understanding of Hokkien and perhaps know Lion King & Sound of Music for this instalment. Well, even if you don't know SoM, Ah-Pui there will explain it to you.. in 10 mins.. extremely comically.. with back-up dancers.. lol..
I've never seen Shermy laugh so uncontrollably before and the best bit came when Ah-Pui waved at the audience (after his encore), and dear Shermy actually put her hand up and waved back... wahahaha!
So yes, bring your momma and papa, and go watch Broadway Beng, we don't know if there'll be a part 4!

Strawberry Cookies

Shermy finally got an off day allowing her to get back into baking! On Sunday, she whipped up a batch of Strawberry Cookies (I helped in punching out the shapes! and making the expressions.. -_-;;) which turned out great! She recalls my mom's advice to her - to leave the cookies to stand out of the oven, allowing them to harden - rather than bake em till they dry out - and voila! it worked! Perfect strawberry cookies..




And these pictures were taken by Sherm using my infamously blur Samsung camera phone.. while in a moving van.. and they look so clear lo... compared to my own attempts at taking pics of the zoids. sigh..

Zoids Assembly Line: Dibison

The Zoid was designed with a single intention, and that was to fight the massive Death Saurer that had so far dominated the Helic Forces. To achieve this, the designers loaded it with one of the heaviest weapons loads ever seen on a Zoid. The Dibison's principal weapons are an array of seventeen 105mm mortars mounted on its back. Long-ranged and capable of indirect fire, the weapons can be used to saturate an area or focus on a single target.

Additionally, the Dibison's super-heavy Crusher horns are one of only a few weapons capable of penetrating a Death Saurer's armour, while its Crusher Hooves can be used to trample enemy Zoids underfoot. While not very agile, its speed and mass allow it to effectively charge down enemy Zoids. The Dibison's armour is very thick, allowing it to wade through enemy fire. Finally, the Zoid is fitted with an extensive sensory system, allowing it to detect and engage enemy Zoids at long range.

~ Wiki

I picked up the Dibison after Shermy got the notice on the forums about it being in the discount bin ($19.90 only!). It was very easy to build, having few sprues. The Dibison is the first Zoid I've built that comes with die-cast metal parts - the horns and hooves), which makes this a rather unique Zoid. As you can see, the metal-bits along with the awesome array of mortar cannons make it a very impressive-looking unit.

I really should get my own digital camera so I can take proper macro shots. These pictures don't show the detailing that I've put into the model.. Dibison's the first kit that I actually spray-painted. Initially, I applied matte top-coat with the intention of smoothening the surface for decal-ing, but ended up "spraying dust" (so it appeared) onto the surface. To solve the problem, I applied a thin layer of gunmetal so i had a new surface to work on, the decals added a whole new dimension, and the Zoid was birthed. =)




And with the completion of the Dibison, I've now begun work on the Berserk Furher, one of the most complex to build.. Time for some Dino-loving! Watch this space for completed pics!