Kok Kee Wanton Noodle (国记云吞面) @ Lavender Food Square

When you mention wanton noodles to any Singaporean who is a true blue noodle connoisseur, the name "Kok Kee" or "that stall from Lavender Hawker Centre" is usually mentioned as one of the best in this tiny red dot.

I was introduced to this stall by Mr Kon (the human food guide) and i remembered it was expensive, the queue was long and i cleaned the noodles in a few mouthfuls!

One look at this plate of wanton mee (云吞面) and it's common to elicit comments like "look very normal leh", "like this also must queue so long ah?", "how come the char siew is not char ta (burnt)?".

Wait a moment! Wait till you have taken a bite! I do agree that the slices of pale looking char siew were nothing extraordinary. In fact, all the stuff on top of the noodles tasted dead normal.

The thing that keeps people from coming back regularly comes from this pot at the counter.

Drenched onto the noodles as the last of its procedure before serving to the customers, this unique sauce is the very essence of this dish and was marvellously light with a gentle sweetness to it.

According to a customer who claimed to be a regular for more than 30 years, the noodles were handmade, resulting in springy strands thinner than typical mee kia and partnered really well with the sauce!

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Need I say more on my verdict?

However, note that this is not the typical Singapore style wanton noodles and may not sit well for people who expect a similar variant.

Location

380 Jalan Besar,

#01-06 Lavender Food Square

Price

S$5 was ordered (even though a S$4 is available) as i was sharing with my mom. For a non air-conditioned venue, this is the most expensive wanton noodles i have ever paid.

But it is worth every penny!

Collection Of Rubee's Ashes

I received a call from Mount Pleasant Hospital (Springside branch) this afternoon. Rubee's ashes are ready for collection - the sombre words came out slowly and for that moment, tears welled up in my eyes.

My Rubee is finally coming back home....

The initial two days after his passing were torturing and painful as i asked myself if i have done the right thing by giving the permission to end his canine life. Accepting the reality that he is no longer around is also not an easy task.

A lot of trees (literally) were killed while composing the entry you see here; there were just too many pictures and too much memories of this naughty little shihtzu in the past ten over years.

Burying myself with work seems like the best way for me to get out of this depressive mood and i am glad i did. Work occupies my mind and i could not spare any time to think of Rubee.

But i do miss him terribly at night as i see an empty spot he usually occupied on my mattress.

I miss patting him to sleep, i miss the feel of his fur around my fingers as i slowly massaged him, i miss hugging him whenever he gave a cold shiver, i miss the wet patch of saliva he sometimes left on my bed...

Therefore i am really happy to collect his ashes today.

It feels like he is finally coming home after a long yet victorious stay in a hospital. It's somewhat comforting and even soothing to have him back in the house again.

Even if it is just a pile of bones.

To tell you the truth, i don't think i will be afraid if i ever hear a bark or feel his presence at home. In fact, i really wish he can appear some times and play with me as he always did when he was much healthier...

Kim Choo Nonya Kueh (金珠娘惹糕) - Ang Ku Kueh (紅龜粿) & Kau Ding Kueh (九层糕)

Nearing the dumpling festival (端午节 or 粽子节), it is common to see a larger crowd at places that sell these time-consuming, difficult-to-make products; rice dumplings.

No no no, today's not the time for an elaboration on these carbo-laden snacks. Or meals depending on individuals - there are people who eat only these for breakfast, lunch and dinner!

Today, let's touch on Kim Choo, a food outlet that sells heritage snacks/desserts found only in Singapore and Malaysia; Nonya Kueh.

To tell you the truth, i have a bit of difficulty when it comes to differentiate some Nonya kuehs from Chinese kuehs.

Most of the times, you tend to get a mixed variety in many stalls and this is not exactly a bad thing since it makes good business sense to sell food that are popular with the masses.

I am not going to bore you further on the differences for each style. Please visit wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuih.

Ang Ku Kueh (紅龜粿)

Each ang ku kueh felt pudgy and heavy on my palm with an attractive colour that glistened under the sunlight. I could not wait to pop one right into my mouth!

The softness was evident but the supposedly sweet mung bean paste tasted a bit bland. Before i could start my barrage of complaints to my sister, the sweetness slowly seeped out as i chewed on. Yes, my friend, i do chew my food.

I did enjoy these reddish desserts although my favourite still comes from this small little stall in Broadway Food Centre.

Kau Ding Kueh (九层糕)

This is something i really like as a kid!

The sensation of slowly peeling and eating each layer of "skin" is akin to some violent cannibalistic inclination towards your enemies. It did help to relieve some stress on a particularly bad day for a child.

Nine-layer kueh (direct translation) sold in many places are brightly coloured but here in Kim Choo, they had a weird darker tinge - Mummy suspected it could be the use of brown sugar.

The taste wasn't compromised though as they were not overly sweet (like many others) and gave a subtle pandan fragrance. A tad too oily even though i have to conclude that they were still sedap (delicious).

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Location

109, East Coast Road

Price

Ang Ku Kueh (紅龜粿)

S$7 for 10 in a plastic box

Kau Ding Kueh (九层糕)

S$2.50 for 4 in a plastic box

In Loving Memory of Rubee - My Best Friend and Confidant

I still remember how ecstatic and excited i was to finally have a dog to call my very own.

Hence, when that fat yet elongated furball came bouncing towards us, my heart melted although the teo mummy was in for a shock!

She was expecting to adopt a trimmed dog, not one with all that longish fur covering its body and big, expressive eyes!

Rubee (or 路比 as his then owner called him) had an air of proud arrogance surrounding him and it took us a long 6 months before he finally accepted his fate and looked upon us as his new family.

Maybe he was just pissed that i insisted on shaving off his beautiful long fur. C'mon, it's my first dog and brushing everyday to ensure he was tangle and matt free was seriously no easy business.

Anyway, I was virtually tied to Rubee since that acceptance and he was always ready to be my listening ear and displayed no violent resistance whenever a bear hug was needed.

This deeply intertwined attachment means that the Teo family has never gone on a true family vacation as i would never have the heart to place him in a pet hotel.

Granted there were frustrations with the occasional potty accidents, the stains he made on my dad's highly prized marble floor, the balls of loose fur that seemed to appear from nowhere, his incessant barking that drove us to the walls (and his saliva that stained my countless mattresses).

But i know that deep in our hearts, we did embrace his shortcomings (no one is ever perfect) and continue to shower him with loads of love and kisses.

Two years back, in the midst of consistent vomitting that almost damaged his liver, i thought i would lose him forever.

He was all limp and lifeless when i brought him to see the vet.

With a strong will (and a few thousand dollars), he managed to survive and got really chubby (tipping the scale at over 9 kilograms)!

However, his fur gradually turned white as a result of this illness and instead of looking like a Shih-Tzu, he looked like a snow white Maltese.

Gawd!

Things turned for the worse seven months ago after he was confirmed to have both Cushing disease and an apple-sized tumour in his abdomen.

As my vet-nurse friend pointed out via MSN, Rubee will degenerate bit by bit to the point where his quality of life will be seriously compromised.

My friend was spot on; Rubee's weight started to decline drastically over the span of just a few months. A drop that saw him weighing just 4.75 kilograms.

'Skin and bones' was the best way to describe his physical condition.

He became deaf, his fur started dropping in clumps and he stopped drinking and eating. To ensure he still gets some nutrients into his body, I had to resort to syringing him with grounded kibbles and water.

Eventually, he started to lose control of his bladder.

Finding a pool of urine on the ground was fine but to have him lying on a pool of urine few times a day was too heartbreaking.

That's when diapers came in play! I can now proudly declare that changing diapers is no longer a difficult task for me.

The final straw came when he no longer had any control of his hind legs and started developing painful looking bed sores on them - wounds that would not heal easily without constant, proper care.

I am not a dog and i don't know what pain and suffering mean to them. I had to use my human instinct to gauge and determine how bad, how depressing his situation was and to make a conscientious decision whether to put him down.

Owners have that limitless power over our pets.

A selfish power that seems easy to perform but heartbreaking to decide. At the very least, i know that his suffering will cease to be and he will (hopefully) be in a better place.

All dogs go to heaven right?

With the above in mind, i made the tearful decision to terminate the life of 15 years old Rubee. It took only a moment to carry out such a momentous decision and...

he stopped breathing.

Goodbye my friend...

You know i will never ever forget you and till we meet again at the end of the rumoured rainbow bridge, you shall be greatly missed...

A Low-Tide Preliminary Beach Walk (Off Sembawang Park)

My penchant for off beaten tracks is pretty well known with my friends - i am usually game for them so long i am not alone and the chance of meeting any serpent is very very low. 

Thus, when the opportunity struck after another filling meal at Buckaroo, i had to grab it before our lazy Alex regretted agreeing to my suggestion to have a digestive leisure walk along a beach right outside Bottle Tree Village (Sembawang).

A communication tower is built besides the commercial village. Strangely, i don't remember seeing such a tall structure from the more crowded Sembawang Beach a mere seven hundred meters away. Maybe it's a matter of memory lapse.

Ships docked at the nearby Sembawang Shipyard can be seen though. Though not as accessible as the nearby Sembawang fishing jetty, anglers looking for some peace and quiet will definitely enjoy this area.

Numerous drain-like structures dot the beach. My imaginative mind was then wondering if there was ever an incident where a corpse (facing up with eyes wide open) came floating out the drain! Wahaha, i can never explore this area at night.

The Bottle Tree Village side. It's actually a very nice place to have a BBQ session with my friends. Due to the impending sunset, this side appeared brighter than the other.

Exposed sand bed as a result of the low tide. I would have loved to check out the area more intensively if not for the waves that seemed to get taller and stronger.

Another visit is necessary to see what will become of this pile of sand when it's high tide. Is it a natural occurrence or man made?

A basic filtration system is in play here to prevent rubbish from flowing out into the sea. Having said that, inconsiderate beachgoers do not display such TLC (tender loving care) to the nature.

Low tide commonly exposes fascinating nature at work. The ecosystem here is not as vibrant as Chek Jawa but you can still see little crabs scrambling to dig hiding holes when humans approached.

With a tide that was slowly rolling in, an angler decided to switch from the sand bed to the more solid bricks foundation.

Silhouette of a pair of father-son anglers. Even if the high tide is in full operation, i think the water level is still at a comfortable waist level for this pair. Awwww... I miss swimming in seawater!

Totally love this picture for the sky that showed a gradual blue hue. We decided to terminate the walk as it was getting dark and we did manage to work out a sticky sweat! Would not want to risk bumping into the rumoured hantus!

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Location

Red Border!