Mini Squadron for iPhone

Since my upgrade from ipod touch to iphone 3Gs, i have immensed myself with the massive amount of applications that can be downloaded anywhere, anytime with my data pack.

One of the applications (recommended by techno-adopter, the Great Kon) is this game called Mini-Squadron.

Coupled with catchy music and a cute, colorful interface, it was extremely addictive! Quite a few days were wasted in completing the levels and unlocking most of the planes (i am left with just the last one)!

As you can see from the above, this game took place in Europe with 8 areas.

The beginner plane has only one cannon.

With the advancement of the levels, you will unlock planes that have double cannon, triple cannon, homing missle, cluster bomb, drop bomb or laser (which is personally my favourite)!! 

Besides the weaponry, each plane differs on its speed, size, turning rate, armour and reload time.

From the picture, you can see two translucent knots (red box); the one on the left is the directional key and the right one is for you to shoot those bastards down!!

Enjoy killing those cute flying sheep and octopus, just to name a few.

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Free for the lite version.

US$2.99 for the full version~!

Night's Out @ Kent Ridge Park

This was so impromptu after our heavy meal at Ju Shin Jung.

Korny informed us of a very famous braised duck rice stall along Buona Vista Road. The intention was only to purchase one packet to be shared between us. 

A place was needed (to eat of course) and we agreed on Kent Ridge Park for its close proximity! The gang does this kind of things quite frequently.

Struggling to drive up the quiet, eerie road in the drizzling weather, we saw at a far distance, a ball of fire illuminating the dark sky. This generated some interest as we were just looking for a place with some chairs and light to eat the duck rice.

Here's a closer look. The fire originated from the Bukom island and should be the waste product for some heavy industry machineries (or maybe incinerator?).

Before we could even start on the food, cam whore Alex needed his artistic fix.

A tank was also situated in the park for more camwhore sessions!! We realised there was quite a number of such "weapons" in the park.

But tiredness had seeped in (for me) and soon, we were on our way....... to IKEA and Anchorpoint! That's how impromptu we are!!  

In my mental note though, i told myself to take one saturday or sunday morning to explore this Kent Ridge Park and see what gems i can uncover in this supposedly boring island (i disagree btw).

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Forgot about the duck rice. It was delicious with a thick, heavily herbalised gravy! Next time, i must try it at the shop itself!

Ju Shin Jung Korean Charcoal BBQ - Fulfillment (AGAIN)

Once again, the gang of four was at Ju Shin Jung BBQ restaurant (my fourth time in year 2010) yesterday for the rat's (Alex) birthday.

Like me, he relishes the food, the good mixture of both unhealthy (BBQ) & healthy (loads of vegetables) chow and the fabulous service.

Since i blogged about this before (HERE), i am not going to write too much this time. However, i am going to bombard you with loads of pictures (consolidation of two visits)!

The table full of makan!! And not all the dishes were on it!

Seriously, just eating the side dishes was enough to fill my stomach!

The highly acclaimed Korean Seafood Pancake! Remember it as a very nice seafood okonomiyaki in its natural form (without the sauces).

Kimchi Pancake! Though the seafood pancake is more popular, i prefer this for its authentic Korean flavour.

A closer look of the kimchi pancake. Extremely appetising!!

Seafood and Soya Bean Paste Soup. The soup was so deliciously light and the prawn i ate was full of freshness and sweetness! Vannie didn't like it though.

Weirdo!

Kids having fun in the restaurant's kiddie area. I wanted to join them but the adult me deterred me from removing my shoes!! 

Sad....

There are quite a few seating arrangements. Besides the normal type, here's a more traditional type.

This is one of the private rooms in the restaurant. If you are wearing shoes and you know that your feet smell, please be considerate okay!! hahaha.

Heart the rice tea!!! A finale that concluded a fabulous meal!

Service in Ju Shin Jung has always been good (except for once) but this round (as in yesterday), it was impeccable! The manager, Donald, realised we adored the rice tea so much, he gave each of us a FULL CUP OF goodness!

Look at the difference!!

We eventually decided to have two cups to be shared amongst the four of us.

The Process (for the well marinated meat)

Mouth Watering!!

Now some MAGIC!

What do you think this is? Pills? Sweets?

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Due to Van's magical powers, the mysterious item transformed!

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Men-ichi Kyoto Ramen @ Northpoint, Yishun

Since my last "sampling" at Ippudo Ramen, my mouth has been itching for another ramen meal. When Cavin has a constant craving, Cavin will do something about it!

*Take note of that Jeffrey!*

I remembered seeing a queue whenever i passed by this newly opened ramen stall in Northpoint! And that's where i am going to satisfy my craving!

Ramen

The most important item for this meal with a very high expectation!

It could have been a matter of choosing a wrong ramen. I ordered Spicy Tonkotsu Ramen. The soup was palatable at first but eventually, the only taste i had was spiciness. I should be more impressed if the dob of chilli wasn't there.

On the other hand, my sister's teriyaki chicken ramen had a thicker, more delicious broth. After pondering on how to describe the taste, it was with realisation that it tasted just like teriyaki sauce!

This in my opinion, was not difficult to make at all!!

Unlike Ippudo, the noodles tasted more like instant noodles although they were apparently handmade. No, i am not complaining because i do enjoy having instant noodles!

The Chashu left a deeper imprint, soaking in the essence of all the goodness of the broth (and only a bit of the spiciness). Though the ramen at Men-ichi was cheaper than Ippudo, the pieces of Chashu were numerically pathetic when compared to Ippudo!

Buta Kakuni

Delish! Part of the ramen set, I would have loved to slowly bite those fats from the pork belly but i didn't for the following reasons.

1) I am too fat and that's fats.

2) It looked plasticky!

Gyoza

Part of the ramen set, these plate of freshly made gyozas were crispy on one side, oily smooth on the other with a juiccccy yet steaming hot meaty filling.

Bigger than the tiny gyozas in Ippudo, these were nice but i would not be able to differentiate them from the many types of gyoza (whether it is from China or Japan) we have in Singapore.

Sushi

A higher regard has always been reserved for sushi from Ichiban Boshi (owed by the same company managing Men-ichi) but the ones in Men-ichi were a few notches down the ladder.

On one hand, the california roll was okay, not bad.

THIS, on the other hand, looked beautiful yet tasted stale. *ugh*

Sashimi

The freshness, thickness and the cut of each piece of sashimi are the main components to a memorable plate of raw fish.

I prefer mine to be thicker and freshness to me, is the most important component. Cut? Nah, noob me doesn't know how to differentiate anyway.

Though it's not my first time having sashimi at Ichiban, this plate of salmon sashimi fell short of expectations. Warm and not fresh. :(

another disappointment.

The swordfish (kajiki) sashimi was way better with its more solid, crunchy texture. And of course, fresher! :)

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Please remember i am using Ippudo Ramen as the base guide when i ate at Men-ichi. Comparatively, i prefer Ippudo but that does not mean Men-ichi is bad, because it really isn't.

Due to its close proximity to my house, i am more than keen to try the other ramen they have.  

Location

Northpoint (Opposite Yishun MRT Station)

#01-22/23

Price

Spicy Tonkotsu Ramen - S$15.90 (set)

Chicken Teriyaki Ramen -S$15.90 (set)

Sashimi - S$15.90 (each plate)

Sushi - from S$2.10 - S$3.90 (each plate)

Of course, it's necessary to include 10% service charge and 7% GST.

Additional Information

The ramen set came with a side dish (the gyozas, Buta Kakuni etc) and either hot or cold tea.

As with Ichiban Boshi, they have the rewards card that you can use for Ichiban Sushi, Ichiban Boshi, Czzar, Takiyaki Bo and of course, Men-ichi Ramen.

They have freshly made Gyoza for takeaways!

The perfect snack for the freaky rainy weather we have nowadays!

Chwee Kueh (水粿) @ Chong Pang Food Centre

Too much, too much rich food recently and it's time to have some common food in this blog!

Someone (whose name i cannot remember) once told me that while chwee kueh may cost around a dollar for 4 pieces, the ingredients are marginally cheaper.

Hence, the profit margins can be quite startling. Provided you sell a lot of them; economies of scales (luckily i still remember this! phew).

For the uninitiated, chwee kueh means water snack (translated literally from the Hokkien dialect) and is a type of steamed rice cake topped with fried preserved radish (chai poh)!

Sounds easy but in order to get a chwee kueh with that perfect, consistent texture takes years of experience to control the right timing (for steaming) and the optimal mixture of rice flour and water.

The fried radish plays the most important role for my "kind" of chwee kueh. It must be fragrant, oily and bitey with that explosion of savourish sweetness and saltiness.

Not healthy but it's definitely not a rich meal either!

*my favourite chwee kueh comes from the super unfriendly Bedok Chwee Kueh stall from Chong Pang Food Centre*