Passion Run in 90 minutes 29 May, 2009
Posted by dear1dear2 in Dear1, Sports & Health.5 comments
And so we participated in our second running event of the year last Sunday, Passion Run. The first was the Zoo Run. Here’s a recap of what happened.
We really haven’t been exercising since the Zoo Run back in Feb 09. Yes, Dear2 went for a few runs with her colleagues after work. But Dear1 really didn’t have any training whatsoever. And so the 2 yaya papaya Dears went into the 10km Passion Run without conditioning.
We arrived in time for the 8am flag off. The interesting thing for us this time was the “new” RFID tag. It’s not a durable looking champion chip which we had to return after the run. It’s not the strip of wire which was fastened to the runner bib and make the whole damn thing so heavy. This time round, it is just a strip of plastic sheet about 10cm in length that is embedded with some flat wires and electronics on one side. Just loop this flexible plastic piece around our shoe lace and stick it in place with the sticker provided. It’s that easy. The best thing is, we didn’t have to remove and return it, which is a good thing becos we didn’t really fancy the idea of bending down and untying our shoe laces after a long run. Thumbs up for new running technology. (Side note: Maybe we were suppose to return it but then nobody told us…)
We didn’t have any baggage with us so I can’t say anything about the baggage counter. *Hint* Why didn’t we have any baggage? Where had we left our things? Hmm…
Run started and so we ran. Not too bad, we were in good condition up to 4km and we overtook many ppl along the way. Yeah. We didn’t have any breakfast in the morning and so we started feeling the emptiness about then. And this was the quote from Dear1:
I’m running out of bananas.
We passed the u-turn point and began looking out for our first water stop. We had passed a few water points earlier on but didn’t need to stop at that time. But the next water point turned out to be very very far away. We were expecting a water point before the 5km mark, but there was none. By this time we were feeling rather tired and slowing down alot. Surely that must be a water point soon after not having one for so long. Wrong. In the blink of an eye, we were at the 6km mark and still no water point. We didn’t stop running as we didn’t want to. We were determined to only stop when we get to a water point. But we had already dropped a lot of pace.
Finally, the next water point was spotted shortly after 6km. Many runners stopped to pick up a drink after such a long water point drought. We continued walking for some time until we passed 7km. And then we suddenly spotted photographers under a tree ambushing the tired runners. We didn’t want to be caught walking on camera and so we started running again. What a vain motivation. :P
Some distance down, we slowed to a walk yet again at a water point. 8km mark had passed. After replenishing ourselves, we mustered whatever bananas (read energy) we had remaining and made a dash for the finish. Dear2 switched to her race day mode and started overtaking fellow runners. She liked to concentrate on overtaking other runners to take her mind off the running. I just followed closely behind, keeping up with the pace, and taking over the pacing every once in a while when Dear2 started falling back.
Somehow, the finish line always seemed so far away on the home stretch. We passed Bedok jetty and spotted the finish line in a distance. Mind over body. We kicked up the pace and made for the finish. Yes! We completed our first 10km run of the year! (Well… technically, Zoo Run was also 10km 6.2km – thanks zaimie for pointing it out - but we were there more for the animals. :P) And Dear2 counted overtaking 55 runners on our final sprint. Yeah!
Immediately after crossing the finish line, we were ushered to collect our goodie bags. There was no queue and we got our goodie bags in zero time. Good goodie bag organization. Thumbs up again.
We walked around the carnival area, drank 2 cans of 100Plus each, and took a relaxing walk along the beach before heading home. We were pleased with the organization of the run and would recommend to anyone who wants to participate in a casual running event. We were also pleased with ourselves as we had the mental perseverance to give it our best for this run. The timing wasn’t anything great but it showed us that we still can do it and we need to get in shape so that we can do even better. 加油！
-Dear1
Angie not The Choice for Durian Cake 16 May, 2009
Posted by dear1dear2 in Dear1, Food & Beverages.1 comment so far
Last week on Mother’s Day, we decided to treat Dear2’s mum to a delightful durian cake. Amongst our choices were 727 Cakerie and Angie The Choice because both were relative near our house and we could drop by their stall to pick up a cake on the way to Dear2’s mum’s place. A brief search on the Internet showed that both durian cakes were well received and liked. A name that recurrently popped up was Goodwood Park Hotel durian cake. It was rather inconvenient for us so we decided to forgo that option this time round. We decided to visit Bukit Panjang Plaza where both 727 Cakerie and Angie The Choice have their stall under the same roof to take a good look before deciding.
727 Cakerie offer 2 versions of the same cake, one normal style (20 cm) durian cake @ $48, and one normal style (20 cm) durian cake with icing sugar on top with the words ‘Happy Mother’s Day’ @ $52. Hmm… $4 for the words… The salesgirl explained to us that their cake contains 3 layers of durian pulp and that the whole cake is made of ‘pure durian’ – whatever that means. There’s no discount whatsoever with any credit cards or member cards. One thing we forgot to ask was whether the price was nett or before GST.
Anyway, we went to Angie The Choice which was just next door. Fierce competition indeed. They’re having this promotion where a 20 cm durian cake gets 10% off for using one of the many cards that participated. I remembered a few, Passion card, NETS, Citibank credit card, there were many more. The 20 cm cake is priced at $48 before GST. At this point, I was rather irked as I have never heard of a cake shop charging GST before, at least common brands like Bengawan Solo don’t. So the final price after GST is $48 x 1.07 = $51.36. After 10% discount is $51.36 x 0.9 = $46.22. Ok, it’s cheaper than 727 Cakerie. We enquired about the durian fillings and the salesgirl informed us that there are 2 layers of durian inside (1 layer lesser than 727).
Since both cakes were of the same size, both had relatively good reviews, and Angie The Choice was a little cheaper (probably due to lesser durian layers), we decided to go with Angie The Choice. This was going to be the first durian cake experience for both us and Dear2’s mum.
This is the well insulated box that came with the cake. The cake was still cold when we arrived at our destination.
And this is what the cake looks like. Nothing special actually. Can’t really tell its a special durian flavoured cake. The bottom cake tray had the words Angie The Choice written on it, nice marketing.
Ops! We forgot to take a picture when the cake was cut, so this is a picture of a slice of cake which we brought home for supper. You can see, starting from the top, a layer of cream, then cake, durian, cake again, durian again, and finally cake.
Ok, now for the verdict. Dear2’s mum says nice. Dear2 says passable. Passable probably meant not very nice but still edible. Dear1 says totally not nice at all and will never buy from Angie The Choice again. First, the durian pulp doesn’t taste fresh. Next, probably due to the fantastically insulated box, the durian pulp was nearly solid with ice when we ate it. The cake itself tasted stale and dry to me. And the cake layer was far too thick. It was more like a normal cake with some durian inside rather than a true durian cake. For this kind of standard, I feel that the cake is extremely over priced even @ $46.22 after discount. Perhaps $30 is a fairer price tag for such a durian cake. It was a terrible experience.
On hindsight, I remembered that the salespersons in Angie The Choice was not friendly and in fact a bit cold towards customers. On the other hand, the salespersons at 727 Cakerie was cheerful and energetic and greeted us with big smiles. Maybe I should try their durian cake one of these days and make a comparison between their durian cakes.
-Dear1
Driving to Kuala Lumpur 10 May, 2009
Posted by dear1dear2 in Dear1, Travel & Discovery.1 comment so far
Dear1 went with some of his friends on a driving trip to Kuala Lumpur (KL) over the Labour Day long weekend last week. This is not the first time I’ve been to KL but it is the first time that my group is actually driving to KL. Revisiting a place that I’ve been to before doesn’t mean that it is boring. In fact, every place on earth is just rich in culture that it isn’t possible to completely explore a city unless you are actually living there.
Our itinerary is simple. Set off early morning on Friday to avoid traffic jams, explore KL until Sunday morning, start driving home, drop by Melaka for some local food. Actually, Dear1 and Dear2 had been to both KL and Melaka before.
At first, I thot driving to KL is going to be scary. After all, we’ll be in foreign land and we may not understand the traffic rules and standard motorist behaviours and foreign language road signs that we cannot read. But it turns out that the going by the 2nd link at Tuas links us almost to a direct route to KL. Along the 2 lane North South Highway, everything was smooth sailing and motorists all kept to the left lane unless overtaking. Speed is around 100~120 km/h with no interruptions in between except for toll booths. Perhaps the biggest problem we had to handle during this trip was falling asleep while driving. We took turns to drive and stopped frequently at the numerous rest and toilet points along the way.
We stayed at Hotel Nova at Jalan Alor. It should be quite popular with Singaporeans as we saw quite a few Singapore cars in the hotel car park.
A nice looking street lamp with bright reds and yellows spotted just outside our hotel.
We arrived early at around 9am and was glad that the hotel allowed us to check in early (very early in fact). After settling down, we proceeded to explore the hotel neighborhood.
We went to Petaling Jaya, KLCC, Times Square, Mid Valley, I’ll just let the pictures do the talking ya.
This was the hotel (Swiss Inn) along Petaling St that Dear1 and Dear2 stayed at many years ago during one of our first free and easy trips. It’s so nostalgic to see this hotel again after so many years.
Taking the KL public train system from Petaling to KLCC. While the platform is very long and spacious, the train itself is only 2 carriage long, and a rather tight squeeze.
We spotted an A&W and went straight for it without a second thought eventhough we weren’t hungry. A&W is sorely missed in Singapore, the root beer float and the curly fries… Oh, why did they wind up business in Singapore…
Sakae Sushi in KLCC is very affordable. We sat right beside the sushi making counter and saw them using canned Ayam brand mayonnaise tuna for their tuna flavoured sushi. What a turn-off. And I thought they would have at least used some higher class ingredients since they’re charging restaurant prices.
We caught a spectacular view of the Petronas Towers from the fountain area outside KLCC. This photo was taken using F3.3, 1/4 sec, ISO 250, slow synchronize flash. I guess the MEGA OIS helped a lot in this handheld shot. :D
Late night supper just outside our hotel and along Jln Alor. There are lots of road side stalls there and all open until late night. At ard 1am, the streets are still busy with activities. Maybe its partially due to the long weekend too.
More local food, this time at a famous bak kut teh shop. I thought the egg was great and the vege was fresh. The bak kut teh itself was just so-so so I didn’t take any pictures.
We stopped over at Melaka on the way home and tried their famous chicken rice balls at this famous stall. There were lots of newspaper cuttings all over the shop front. Dear1 and Dear2 had eaten Melaka chicken rice balls at another traditional restaurant before on our previous trip. I think the one we ate before tasted better. :P
Gee… I caught sight of the Renaissance Hotel that we stayed at on Dear1 and Dear2’s previous visit. So nostalgic again. And also that franchise chicken rice ball restaurant at the bottom of the picture. Not nice, pls avoid.
And that’s the end of my trip. Quite interesting to revisit many of the place that I’ve been to before, looking at what has changed and what didn’t change. One interesting lesson I got from the trip was the usefulness of having a GPS system on the car. Many places would have been rather inaccessible for us other than taxi but we were able to visit those places becos of GPS. Many times when we missed a turn, the GPS was able to bring us back to our destination via a new route. We were able to go to a completely foreign city and still navigate its streets thanks to the GPS. Wow, it’s really becoming an essential travelling tool. But one drawback is that the usefulness of the GPS is dependent on the map. Getting hold of an updated map before a trip is very important. Some of the roads were changed from two way streets to one way streets and some of old roads were closed and new roads built. These led to some confusion about the directions given by the GPS. Still, it is a valuable tool to have.
With this experience, I did learn to appreciate the fun of a driving holiday. Driving overseas was something that I didn’t dare to try before but I think this short weekend getaway opened my eyes and is perhaps the first step in broadening my free and easy travel experience. Maybe I should seriously consider renting and driving a car on my next trip. Australia maybe? US? For now, focus on acculmulating even more driving experience first.
-Dear1
豆沙饼 induces severe sleepyness 6 May, 2009
Posted by dear1dear2 in Dear1, Food & Beverages.5 comments
This is a picture of the 豆沙饼 (from here onwards referred to as dou sha bing or simply DSB) that Dear1 bought from Malaysia on a recent trip. Dear1 have tasted many brands of DSB from Malaysia but Dear1 have to say that the flavour from Penang goes best with him and so Dear1 always look out for the ‘Product of Penang’ label when buying his DSB.
This box contains 32 pieces of DSB and costs RM13.90 (SGD5.80). Each 4 DSB are packed into a sealed mini pack inside the box, meaning that there are 8 mini packs of 4 DSB in one such box. The mini packs are supposed to preserve the freshness and also make it easier for people to serve or bring out.
Dear1, being a big DSB fan, decided to bring the entire box to work and to munch on them throughout the day. One thing about DSB is that they spoil very quickly and so should be eaten very quickly as well. Dear1 remembers ever eating a mouldy DSB which is green in colour. But becos Dear1 normally pops the entire DSB into his mouth in one bite, Dear1 only noticed the weird taste after biting into it. Dear1 spat the DSB out immediately only to find the DSB all green with mould. Yucks! From that day onwards, Dear1 always *looks* before eating, and never eats pandan flavour DSB becos there’s no reliable way to differentiate pandan green and mouldy green.
Anyway, as Dear1 was munching on the DSB during work, Dear1 began to feel very sleepy and groggy, much more so than usual. In fact, Dear1 fell asleep about 4-5 times during work while munching on DSB. The norm is falling asleep once a day. :P
So the conclusion is, DSB induces severe sleepyness, likely due to its high carbo content. Lesson learnt: Do not bring yummy DSB to work. :D
-Dear1
A Lousy Superstar Virgo Trip 3 May, 2009
Posted by dear1dear2 in Dear2, Travel & Discovery.add a comment
Dear2 had just returned from a 3D2N cruise to nowhere on the Superstar Virgo over the Labor Day long weekend. At $429 per person each for 3 people, Dear2 will advise you to better spend the money elsewhere unless you are one of those who go on cruises only for the casino. Duh.
Day 1
Departure at 9pm, cruisers can board the ship from 5pm onwards to settle down in the cabin and to indulge in the buffet dinner. But alas, while Dear2 read from someone’s post written in 2007 that she ‘eats at EACH of the 3 buffet restaurants for ALL her meals’, Dear2 was made to realize that Star Cruise have already changed this policy and diners can only eat once at each restaurant per meal. Not that Dear2 fancies BINGING in the buffets the way that blogger did, but this just goes to reaffirm the ugly and kiasu Singaporean. Duh.
Even before the ship actually leaves the port, Dear2 and her friends were already greatly disappointed. KTV private room @ min $50 PER HOUR – that is soooooooo much more expensive den singing on the mainland. Set meal for 2 at Japanese restaurant is $199, and min cost of an Italian appetizer is $18. Duh.
For smaller ship like the Aries, the swimming pool is this size; for BIG ship like the Virgo, the pool is still the same size. Duh.
Dinner at the Mediterranean Buffet was chaotic. Everyone seems to be like a hungry ghost, cutting queues here and there, dashing here and there just to pile their plates higher with food, squeezing in here and there to get a knife, a fork, and many stacks of serviettes. Oh, there was this sign that says ’serviettes are meant to be used in the restaurant only and not for bringing out’. Guess I dun have to spell out what that implies. And oh, only plain water, coffee and tea are included in the buffet, all other drinks are chargeable from $6 onwards. Duh.
The cabin was small and dirty looking, not dirty as in dirty, but dirty as in 15 year old bed paddings and carpets. I wonder if the carpet had been vacuum cleaned before our boarding. Duh. No towels, no toothbrush, no floor rug. To think that this is supposed to be a world class hotel. Duh.
Dear2 and her frens already felt like going home even before the ship set sail.
Day 2
We woke up to breakfast at the Belle Vista. Chinese breakfast gotto wait – oh well, we’ll take the western breakfast then.
After breakfast, we went to join the dragon beard candy making class only to realise that it is only a DEMONSTRATION. Oh well, at least I get to taste ‘long xu tang’ first time in my life. But, hey, is this supposed to be this sticky that I was almost certain that I will choke becos my teeth is stuck! Urgh!
Walk around the ship a bit, and it was lunch time at Belle Vista again becos the Pavilion is crowded. This time we get to take the Chinese set, haha, finally we get a choice!
The planned programme for after lunch was perplexing. Modern dance class, wushu class, ermm, how can anyone be expected to engage in such vigorous workout immediately after lunch? We gave it a miss and went on the deck for some reading and napping.
The deck was supposed to be great, the sea breeze and view and all, but hey, my ship is not moving leh. Well, can’t be help, cos THIS IS A CRUISE TO NOWHERE, and since we are going nowhere, might as well save the fuel and dun move. Duh. Dear2 has never been on a boat that has NO sea breeze, cos BOATS NORMALLY MOVES, and with it, there’ll be PLENTY of breeze, but this is a ship that dun move. Haiz, I should expect my tickets to be much cheaper lor.
The ship holds a writing room, library, card room, mahjung room, all on the same side as the activity room with great window view. We borrowed some games and settled at the Mediterranean Terrence for the BBQ buffet dinner cum games.
Settle the bill, collect passports (lucky we did this early, the queue will be unimaginable if we had done this any later.), and it was an early bathtime for us. After showering, we went to join the rock and roll with the cruise party. Oh well, it’s just a line dance session. Boring. Duh.
Day 3
We woke up at 6.15am to catch the sun rise, but there was too much cloud cover so by 7.30am, Dear2 went to the gym to do some pedaling. A nice workout that makes me feel worked out.
Breakfast at The Pavilion, and it was time to go home. The ship docked at 9.45am, and by 10.15am, Dear2 was on her way to Harbourfront MRT station. Duh.
On in all, it was a lousy idea of a trip, unless you have too much money to spend, or if you only want to go to the casino. Duh.
- Dear2
PS: Dear2 and her frens did these things on board as well:
Watch a movie
Wanting to maximise our time, Dear2 and her frens went to watch a movie in the cinema on the first night. Fren 1 fell asleep midway thru, Fren 2 wanted to leave halfway but decided to stay on, and Dear2 was counting down every minute of the movie becos it was so damn boring. Duh. No more movies on board this ship, we cried.
Live Show
The boring movie was just to kill time before the much anticipated The Perry dunno-what show. Ok, it was an interesting ping pong show and all, but minus the ‘your balls my balls’ talk please, there are so many kids. What an insensitive performer. Duh.
Suppers
Supper is only provided at the Mediterranean Buffet. There were some great dishes, the only consolation at the end of a wasted day.
And finally, did i mention about the itineary schedule? It came in these small phamplets in many different languages, but each phamplet was so small that you can’t tell the * from the # in the fine print. And mind you, the fine print is always the most important……
The Five People You Meet in Heaven 3 May, 2009
Posted by dear1dear2 in Dear2, Leisure & Games, Slice of Life.add a comment
In case you don’t know, this is a book by Mitch Albom, author of the international bestseller Tuesdays with Morries (yeah, it’s that bestseller, so better go grab a read if you haven already done so.)
The Five People You Meet in Heaven. Who are they?
First person: The Blue Man
The Moral: Some people die when others live. Some things happened (or not happened) so that other things can happen.
Second Person: The Captain
The Moral: Sacrifices. One man died so that others can live.
Third Person: Ruby
The Moral: Forgiveness. Don’t be a moron and be angry all your life; you will only end up wasting the whole of your life for nothing.
Fourth Person: Marguerite.
The Moral: Love. Life ends, but love doesn’t.
Fifth Person: Tala
The Moral: Everyone of us is important in this world, regardless of how insignificant your job is, or how worthless you think you are. Becos you are you, things happened. Becos you are you, there are people whom others can love, and who loves others. Life is wonderful, no matter how meagre you feel.
Conclusion: The only way to live is, to live life to the fullest. Dun bare hatred, dun bare regrets, cos you are only wasting your life in doing so. Cherish life, and dun wait until you meet the five people in heaven to tell you how important and loved you are. The world is great simply becos you are you.
- Dear2
Fish Steamboat @ Xin Yuan Ji 1 May, 2009
Posted by dear1dear2 in Dear2, Food & Beverages.add a comment
If there is 1 dish that will make me crave for it occasionally, that will be ‘fish steamboat’ aka ‘yu tou lu’ from ‘Xin Yuan Ji’ (新源记) at Tan Quee Lan Street, Bugis.
Absolutely delicious! There is only 1 word to describe the taste of the soup – sweet. Sweet with the freshness of fish, sweet with the natural sweetness of cabbage and yam (?? I dunno is that what gives the soup that light sweetness. Of course if the diner is able to tell the recipe so easily, I bet many people can easily copy the recipe too.) , and sweet with the subtle yet nourishing fragrance of those Chinese herbs used un-stingyly in the soup.
Dear2 was never a fish fan at all, hmm, maybe not even a fish eater at all. But the fish used in Xin Yuan Ji is so sweet that Dear2 fell in love with it immediately. Add a slice of the how-can-chilli-padi-be-this-not-hot-at-all chilli padi to the fish, it is simply such a heavenly combination. Yummy!
For 2 people, Dear1 and Dear2 normally order the cheapest and smallest fish steamboat on the menu plus 2 rice. It’s amazing how such a simple spread usually leaves us so full at the end of the meal. Heehee… Actually it’s Dear2 who is usually very full, cos she normally has bowls and bowls of the soup becos there’s free refill. Waiter please! Keke…
Take note though, becos Chinese herbs were used in the soup, the diner should remove them sometime during the course of the meal if you dun want your after-meal-bowl-of-soup to be too concentrated with herbs. Beware of over nourishment! Haha!
So, if the steamboat fish is so superb, den why is it that Dear2 only crave for it ‘occasionally’? Haiz, that’s becos it’s too expensive. The smallest set used to cost $20, but since that ‘not too long ago past when ALL food stalls seemed to raise food prices in the name of rising inflation but yet the price of food never seemed to go down even though we are in a global recession now’, Xin Yuan Ji has raised their prices pretty exorbitantly as well. The $20 steamboat has become $25 now, a 25% increase in price! Totally unacceptable!
So, becos it’s so expensive, even though this is a dish that Dear2 will go-out-of-the-way-to-come-back-for-more, it’s not something that she can have everyday, hmm, even once a month sounds so extravagant as well. Haiz… Dear2 will have to settle for the more economical fish beehoon. Almost-the-same-sweetness soup, almost-the-same sweetness fish, aiyah, this is a very good cheaper substitution already lah. But…. again, the fish beehoon’s price underwent the same inflation as well, from $4 to $5.20 per bowl (you count the % increase yourself), I’ll have to eat-it-only-when-i-am-in-the vicinity-and-only-if-there’s-nothing-else-to-eat. Haiz.
- Dear2
