Cornerstone Western Fusion Restaurant @ Bishan Park 2 [Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park]

The newly renamed Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park has been in the news recently after a major revamp that sees the transformation of its huge, concrete canal. 

But my story today touches on more basic stuff than the mental relaxation required by many city people. This basic yet necessary 'stuff' is food (yes, what else could it be?!).

Cornerstone is a Western fusion restaurant located right within the park and came strongly recommended by my cousin who was infatuated with its edible offerings.

As i stepped into the air-conditioned restaurant, i could feel the desirable sense of comfortability that was amplified by the natural sunlight streaming through the glass windows.

This would be a great place to have some tea and read a book! Unfortunately, the park is well known to be popular with families and reading a book can be frustrating with screaming kids.

An outdoor section is available for those who prefer the great outdoors and i could envision its coziness as sunlight slowly gives way to moonlight.

Enough is enough! Let's begin with food!

Level 5 Buffalo Wings

Should have ordered the highest level ten although these wings still manage to generate some extreme reactions from my body.

Peppery to the thousands of taste buds, numbing spiciness to whatever tender surface it touches on (be it the lips, the tongues), and the uncontrollable sweating from the hair pores - despite all of these, i could not help loving the extraordinary effects it had on me.

Charcoal Grill Hokkaido Squid

This was given the thumbs-up by Cousin Joie [known as Meixin to most of us]. Lightly seasoned with salt and pepper, the grilling was not perfect, resulting in both top and bottom ends to be really charred and beyond normal consumption.

Middle portion, being meatier, was the saving grace; the white pinkish flesh was of the optimal texture that wasn't too hard nor too rubbery.

Beer Batter Fish N Chips

Yummy! Totally enjoyed the crusty beer batter exterior that showed hints of bitterness and the smooth, moisture-laden fish meat that went extremely well with tartar and chilli sauce!

Best Ever Burger

Given such a name, it has a big shoe to fill in. When it comes to burgers, i would always make comparison to De Burg Decadence, the best burger i ever have.

I have to be fair - the 'buns' were unique and actually tasted really good on its own. The minced beef patty, mixed with herbs, was juicy even though it lacked the compacted feel that some people would love to have in burgers.

As a whole, it is definitely not the best ever burger for me.

Earl Grey Jivara

Without even knowing what Jivara is, we were just hoping that this would turn out to be something at least one of us would take.

We heaved a sigh of relief when this was placed on our table. A chocolate cake is much easier to manage than having some bizarre desserts challenging your taste buds and brains.

Frankly, we were expecting some hot chocolate lava to flow out upon contact. It didn't happen.

This was marvellously good although i don't considered myself a chocolate lover - outside is a delicious layer of chocolate fudge followed by a denser yet mildly sweetened chocolate mousse filling on an airy chocolate sponge dotted with chocolate pops!

Wait, where's the earl grey?

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Location

1380, Ang Mo Kio Avenue 1,

Bishan Park 2 [known as Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park]

Map

As above [red star]. Parking lots are limited and it might be better to park at the housing estates nearby. Having said that, do check out the car park near Acacia restaurant first. You might be lucky.

Reservation

Call 6554-7230

Price

Level 5 Buffalo Wings - S$16

Charcoal Grill Hokkaido Squid - S$16

Beer Batter Fish N Chips - S$18

Best Ever Burger - S$15

Earl Grey Jivara - S$10

[Subject to Service Charge. No GST]

Fishball & Minced Meat Noodles @ Jin Biao Coffee Shop [Jurong East]

The western side of Singapore has commonly been known as the weakest region when it comes to food and even for me, i would not likely be adventurous in the area unless it comes with recommendation.

My maternal uncle, who loves eating as much as i love exploring cemeteries, suggested a fishball and minced pork noodles from this coffeeshop near Yuhua Village hawker centre after our early morning trip to Lim Chu Kang cemetery for Qing Ming.

Knowing how famished i am, he boldly ordered the biggest portion to my dismay. I am supposed to limit my carbohydrates intake and noodles are known to be one of the worst type of carbo!

Now, i am the kind who enjoys noodles more than anything else when it comes to wanton noodles, fishball noodles, char siew noodles and minced pork noodles.

Having said that, i found the soup to be merely a mish mash of ingredients boiled in a lightly flavoured broth.

Thankfully, the noodles saved the day!

They gave a gentle tug as i sucked them in; albeit noisily and the lack of any strong condiment (except for ketchup) actually allowed me to appreciate the real delicious taste of the noodles.

Okay, maybe the little pieces of pork lard did help to enhance the overall taste.

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Location

Block 252, Jurong East Street 24,

#01-183, Jin Biao Coffee Shop

Price

S$3 for a big bowl.

Qing Ming Festival (清明节) - Remembering Our Ancestors and Sweeping Their Graves (扫墓) @ Lim Chu Kang Cemetery [Singapore]

I am not going to provide much explanation on the Qing Ming festival as i believe you can find loads of information on this topic on the web. For a start, you may try wikipedia page here.

According to my mom, a walking almanac on Chinese traditions, the exact date for the festival falls on 05 April but traditionally, it is acceptable to visit the tombs of immediate relatives and make offerings within the period of ten days before and ten days after.

For my maternal family, we made the trip last Sunday on a very early morning! To prepare for the journey, i had to wake up at an ungodly 5am! Good move though; it was already a bumper to bumper traffic at 6am!

My maternal grandfather was buried in the infamous Lim Chu Kang cemetery; arguably the biggest in Singapore. This sign actually said Choa Chu Kang Chinese cemetery although i doubt many people use this term due to its similarity to the nearby Choa Chu Kang town.

Since the burial plot of my wai gong was quite near to the main road, my uncle suggested parking by the roadside on the other side of the main road (towards Jalan Bahar) and walked in. He was right; it took me only seconds to find a vacant spot!

Visibility was poor and we had to make our way in almost total darkness! It didn't help when we were suffering from a lack of sleep.

Offering our respect is a basic step to remember our loved ones who have passed on. This respect can take in the form of incense sticks, candles, paper money and food.

To beat the heavier traffic and crowd with the arrival of daylight, there were many groups of people who thought along the same line as us; go earlier. 

The customary burning of paper money so that my grandfather would be able to use them in the netherworld. For a person who was conferred a business finance specialisation degree, i am skeptical on its effectiveness, like many others.

Inflation with so much hell money would be hard to beat! For all we know, a stick of incense stick, to quote an example, may cost around a trillion trillion hell dollars! And i have yet to touch on pollution with all the burning.

A lit up tombstone of my grandfather. Passed away on Christmas day in year 1990, my memory of him as a loud-voiced chain smoker who enjoyed wrapping his tobacco leaves remains fresh in my mind.

The cemetery exuded a surreal peacefulness despite the abnormally high human traffic in the early morning.

Daybreak had arrived and exploring the area was definitely made much easier! It would not help to trip over tombstones - a big no no in Chinese customs.

Before the start for exploration, it's time for burning again! When i asked my mom a few minutes ago why there was a need to burn the money again, she gave me an anti-climax answer "extra money, so burn lor". =_= so practical.

The sky was slowly showing an orangey-yellowish tinge.

Walk-walk officially began! As you can see, the cemetery has a very tidy layout where space is efficiently utilised for the dead.

Grass mound on top of the tomb - the maintenance for this greenery is chargeable at S$50 a year!

Some families prefer to have flowers instead of plain grass although i found one with a tree-like plant! With over 200,000 graves, i am not surprised that there would be more of such unique installations.

Blue stone lions.

Mosaic style tomb; back in the 1980s, mosaic design was popular and can be seen in many homes. This could explain why the design was adopted for this tomb.

Given a standardised size for any burial spot, certain graves still managed to catch my attention.

Especially this one above that features a somewhat a Chinese plaque design!

A mini Earth deity (土地公) shrine is commonly placed by the side of the tomb. Anyone can share the reason why this particular deity is chosen to "protect" the grave?

Why are these coloured paper placed on the tomb and not burned? Questions like this make me realise how little i know of my own heritage and that a lot of us take things for granted without understanding the real reasoning behind them.

The scarcity of land means that any burial is not permanent. From my understanding, the original agreement was to allow up to fifteen years before the grave has to be exhumed. The time for my grandfather to "move house" would come pretty soon.

Sunrise! For the ladies, it could only mean three things; take out an umbrella, put on sun block or brave the UV rays!

Smoke from all the burning. Guess we have to prepare ourselves for the impending haze from Indonesia.

As you look across the cemetery, you may have the impression that it is a mini war zone with smoke columns appearing every few meters! And this is only a small section!

Having natural light is the best way to take photographs! Either that or invest in a better camera (i am saving up although it would be hard given my food expenses).

Grandfather's tombstone in the brighter daylight. 1431 is his unit number, the two lines of Chinese characters reflect the province (Fujian) and city/town (Nan An) he came from.

Stone statue of a female servant; as part of this tomb sweeping "exercise",  beautification is necessary even though i thought she looked pretty weird with a bright red ribbon bow tie.

Last look of the surroundings (panorama) before we left for the car.

This precinct has tombstones with a different look and many of them displayed English characters without any reference to the Christian religion. The Christian cemetery is in fact located in another area a few hundred meters away.

Like flats, each area is accorded a block number and interestingly, the period of burials (in this case, 1984 - 1991) is indicated for each block. This would make it easier to spot the differences in grave designs across the blocks.

A comprehensive map of the Choa Chu Kang cemetery (i still prefer to call it Lim Chu Kang cemetery).

Expectedly, the traffic worsened with the onset of daylight! And i am glad to be out of here as my empty stomach could not stand the protests anymore!