holey baloney

The blog owner is on her way to Hong Kong!!! So this blog will not be updated till 9th December 2008! Woohoo!!!!!

Shopping & Eating baby!

At least our money’s been spent on something useful. I’ve waited long enough for this man.

As reported in the Straits Times:We’re finally getting “Real-time Maps on Trains”. Finally.

I think Singapore can learn a lot from the HK MTR systems, this including. It was so easy for everyone to look at the map and know exactly where you are, which is the next stop and which side does the door open.

Although the MTR is fairly expensive, slightly more so than Singapore, the biggest redeeming factor is that the trains arrive really frequently. On off-peak hours it’s an average of 5mins wait and on peak hours, never more than 3mins. The peak hour trains are packed to the brim yes, but think about it. Packed train which comes every 3-5mins or packed train which comes every 5-15mins.

We really need to improve on the frequency of our trains. Really.

This… is.. my well, Hong Kong trip’s itinerary. It’s kinda a killer but I like it well.. Neat.

I feel like a control freak. It’s so scary can. XD

First opened in September 2007, the Old Hong Kong Tea House at Marina Food Loft pledged to serve authentic HK Trolley Noodles.

So… What is trolley noodles? Why such a name? In the old 1950s in Hong Kong, hawkers pushed their carts (aka trolleys geddit?) around, selling noodles with toppings of braised meat and vegetables, where the customers could pick from a variety. It’s quick and can be akin to the 50s version of fast food.

What was a quick and dirty meal for the poor has now become something we eat when we feel like it. A novelty. Having just came back from Hong Kong, the memory of the taste of really good trolley noodles was still fresh in my mind when I tried this at Marina Square Food Loft.

I ordered:
Braised tofu, large intestines, beef brisket, daikon and another vege. With kway teow. And beef brisket gravy.

Pleasantly surprised by the tenderness of the brisket and the fact that the intestines were well cleaned and the daikon didn’t smell. I raised a little eyebrow when I saw the tiny amount the server picked up of each dish but in Singapore, everything is expensive.

With beef brisket as one of my selection, it’s imperative that you mix it with beef brisket gravy. This, I was instructed when I was in HK, with some aplomb. the gravy is not salty (thank God) but it lacks a distinct brisket taste to it. It tastes a tad too thick though it did not clump up on my plate. Their specialty extra spicy chili sauce is just so mild.

Soup that came with the noodles was really quite bad. Extremely salty, which makes me glad I didn’t ask them to make it soupy, like in Hong Kong.

Overall, it’s average and yet close to the real stuff back in HK. Something that I would go back for, during lunch.

Information Centre –
Old Hong Kong Tea House Marina Branch
6 Raffles Boulevard #04-101/102
Marina Food Loft, Marina Square Shopping Mall
Opening hour: 10am - 10pm daily
Average price: S$4

Rating:

Does ANYONE remember the ficticious boygroup ALIVE - made up of Hong Kong male stars Conroy Chan (陈子聪), Andrew Lin (连凯), Daniel Wu (吴彦祖) and Terence Yin (尹子维)?

Thanks to the interview done by Gang Lu from Tracking Asia Web with Stephen Wang, the CTO of the AlivenotDead online community, I do.

It was the best 2005-2006 in terms of hilarity, guessing, and the final revelation that wasn’t really a revelation, in the movie The Heavenly Kings. The fact that the farce of a band actually had real-time rabid fans. Fans of this talentless band. They can’t sing to save their lives! Turkeys dance better than them! Apart from Daniel Wu, the rest are so-so in the hotness factor. But WHY oh WHY do they have fans???? It was absolutely stomach clenching hilarious when I read news about how fans already have ALIVE materials plastered all over their rooms, proclaim themselves a die-hard ALIVE fan etc etc. They have never ever (till date) produced a single album!

But thanks to the fact they had powerhouse producer/composer Davy Chan as their backing (They almost drove him mad in the studio), the songs weren’t half bad. If only they could sing…

You can check out their past archives by clicking this. Or if you are lazy, here’s the last archive for ALIVE as a band, before the April 20, 2006 premiere of the movie.

Parting shot, one of their songs, which has really nice lyrics…

Video: Night Song - ALIVE

Audio: Night Song - ALIVE

夜曲 - ALIVE

Written By: Davy Chan
Lyrics By:寬姐
Arranged By: Davy Chan
Acoustic Guitar By: Joey Tang
Keyboard By: Davy Chan
Violin By: Leslie Ryang
Backing Vocals By: Pat Lui

A1
黑夜被月光點亮
思念浮出了窗
靈魂遠走它鄉
我的身體空空蕩蕩
傷心奔跑在時間上
眼淚奏出樂章

B
散落在手心上
甜蜜的初戀時光
化為一點星光
不停地墜落

C1
在沒有愛的天堂
最初的愛
多少人都在遣忘
曾經的守望
被新的快欒掩藏
而我還是想
要與黑夜一同憂傷
閉上眼睛靜靜的憂傷

A2
黑夜被月光點亮
情書旱巳發黃
往事悄悄登場
在我的天空裹飄蕩
思念就在瞬間綻放
眼淚奏出樂章

Repeat B

C2
在沒有愛的天堂
最初的愛
多少人都在遣忘
曾經的守望
被新的快欒掩藏
而我還是想
要與黑夜一同憂傷
閉上眼睛呼吸著憂傷