Anyway, for this “legal holiday”, I decided to stay right here.Here as in Singapore – and in my own house instead of a hotel. (PS: I am the sort who will book a room in Sentosa over the weekend just to pretend I am on a holiday!)
So, The Frou stuck around and did absolutely nothing but eat, drink and sleep the entire Raya weekend from the comfort of her own bed and within the confines of this air-conditioned island. Here’s what happened…
Friday morning: My usual weekday work breakfast is a cup of coffee and a yucky granola bar in front of the computer. Since it’s such a treat to have time off to have a proper breakfast on a weekday, I woke up early just to head down to Old Town White Coffee at Bukit Timah to have nasi lemak (can pass lah!), Ipoh dry curry mee (this comes with a rich savoury curry sauce – sedap betul!), curry puffs (not so good; too small and too sweet) and kopi kao. I ate all that, got a headache and went home to bed for a nap. Oink!
Friday afternoon: Woke up feeling very happy, contented and slightly fat (can feel the nasi lemak swimming in tummy still). Watched a DVD in bed – a film, called “The Joneses” with David Duchovny and Demi Moore. It is a very clever film about a ‘fake family’ (each member is a clever salesperson) who travels from town to town, making themselves popular among the neighbors and getting others to buy whatever they are using. I believed this is called ‘viral marketing’? Sadly, Demi ain’t looking good no more, though her body’s still da bomb. Inspired, I went pump some iron at the gym with The Man afterwards. The Man makes a lot of grunting sounds when lifting heavy weights. I imitated him and auntie in gym gave me disgusted look.
Friday night: Time for Secretary’s Pig birthday party! We arrived at the restaurant (Matsu @ Gallery Hotel) only to walk out shortly after. I didn’t read the fine print on their website when I booked so didn’t know they only do degustation menus which doesn’t work for my dear friend, Toe, who is the fussiest eater on earth. So we went downstairs to Satsuma instead and ordered almost half their menu. Our favorites are the lumberjack in blood orange, deep fried chicken cartilage, yam tea rice, stewed pork in curry & shochu, ox-tongue and quail’s eggs in bacon. After dinner, we went next door to Malted Milk for drinks. The rest of the friends came. Three bottle of wine and about a dozen (or more) test-tubes of liquor (I don’t know what it’s in it – vodka maybe?) later, the party started getting really rowdy and self-indulgent. The Toe became crass - her best record is inserting the word “c_b_i” more than five times in one sentence. (Overheard: “Wah! English teacher can talk like that?). Toi became horny and started flirting with the singer from the live band – this 20 yr old STRAIGHT boy – but alas, Toi is SO bad at it that he ended up taunting the poor boy. (Toi: “Eh you are like David Beckham. No lar, I don’t mean you look like him. I think you sound like him. You got c_b_i voice”). The boy got scared and ran away. We even spotted him kissing some angmoh chicks later. In the meantime, Kittykat brought her new boy and every time he leaves the table, we grilled her for details of their sex life. Also, Secretary Pig got engrossed in checking out gross pictures of gross people on Facebook and she kept enlarging the gross parts (love the iPad!) for our amusement. The Man kept mostly quiet because he was busy stealing and eating the leftover birthday cake by himself. Which is not such a bad thing because it gave him enough energy to carry me from the car up to my bed afterwards since I claim to be drunk. (I wasn’t drunk. I was too lazy to walk.)
Saturday morning: I have to go climbing. But I have a fake hangover. From my fake drunkenness. So I went back to sleep. (SMS from Toe: “This old goat is so not climbing today!”)
Saturday afternoon: I woke up, turned on my Korean drama series and started watching with bleary eyes until the part where the lead actress cooked a pot of steaming hot kimchichigae soup for the lead actor out of love. I immediately turned off my DVD player and consulted Timeout Magazine for a Korean restaurant recommendation. They listed just one restaurant called “Sarang” APPARENTLY located at Science Park. Got out of bed, drove to Science Park and realized that the said restaurant has moved to Orchard. I drafted a complaint letter to Timeout in my head on my drive to the next best Korean restaurant I know – Woorinara at Jalan Lorong Kilat. There, I ordered a bowl of kimchichigae (I’ve been craving!) and a sampler plate of their house specialty – deep fried chicken in canola oil douse in a variety of homemade sauces. Oh, I was in Korean heaven as I gulped everything down. Satisfied, I went home to sleep it off. Oink!
Saturday night: I woke up at 7.30pm screaming “I AM WASTING MY SATURDAY NIGHT AWAY”. Got out of bed and headed straight to Sakuraya Fish Market @ West Coast Plaza. This is the place I go for good and cheap sashimi. Ordered heaps of raw fresh lumberjacks, tuna, salmon and yellowtail. Nothing like a good meal of healthy raw fish to get me going. Next, grabbed a triple shot latte from Starbucks (sadly, no better coffee nearby) and read the papers (must catch the day’s current affairs before it becomes tomorrow’s history). Next, head to Orchard Cineleisure. Didn’t know the shops are open all the way past midnight on weekends so did a spot of clothes shopping at my favorite shop on the 4th floor – Rockstar by Soon Lee. Nearly half of my current wardrobe’s from there and I added another laid back work jacket to the mix. Next, caught the midnight screening of “The Infidel” – a hilarious comedy about a Muslim man who found out that he was adopted and that his birth parents are actually Jews; which sparked off a search for his true religious identity. Enjoyed the movie tremendously – unconventional and heavily laced with lots of wicked Brit humor.
Sunday morning: I woke up feeling like the Michelin Man. Body is not taking the ‘overeasy’ Raya celebration diet too well. So, I off my bed and down to the gym for a fast and furious workout. Justified, we went to this breakfast place we read about in the Monocle magazine but never tried – Hatched @ Evans Lodge – where everything on the menu has eggs in it. It is supposed to be ‘egg-static’ but well, the food's just alright. I had poached eggs on corned beef on English muffin and some Bircher muesli with blueberries. The coffee is pretty good though, not the usual weak milky brew you usually get in Singapore. After breakfast, we went to town to look for a birthday present for The Man’s niece. She is 7 years old and has requested for Lady Gaga stuffs (??!). Apparently, she is a big fan and knows all the moves to Pokerface and Bad Romance. I am amused because I'm three times older than she is yet couldn't get Lady Gaga - e.g. what the heck is a "disco stick"? Anyway, we bought her the CD but I also made The Man buy her a “High School Musical Movie” DVD as well. Surely Zac Effron is more age appropriate! Next, we went to Borders to check whether the new edition of Sherman’s Lagoon comics is out. It is – the 15th edition – which got me all excited but sadly when I read it later that night, I found that Toomey’s humor has dried out so it was rather disappointing.
Sunday afternoon: We head to Jones The Grocer to catch up with Secretary Pig, parents and friends. Shared an antipasto platter with Kittykat who has just completed a half marathon and 3 hour climbing session just before coming to meet us. (She, of all people, deserves to eat yet I am eating half her food.) Turns out that everyone was either a lawyer or banker at that table and the conversation topic steered towards property prices and whether one should buy music or movies online. It was a fun catch up session and after we said goodbye to Secretary Pig who rushed off to catch her plane back to HK (hope you had a good birthday, pig!), The Man and I head for a foot massage. Our usual place is Ashi Reflexology at Holland Village because the PRC masseurs are strong and good, but it was fully booked so we tried the one next to 7-11 on the parallel street instead. The massage is so-so only yet overpriced. The only good thing is they provide up to date gossip magazines.
Sunday evening: After massage, we went to eat Ipoh chicken hor fun (Yes! We can still eat!) down the road in Holland Village. It sucks, but the dumpling that came with it has a nice crunch. After dinner, we went home to have a DVD marathon. We tried watching Family Guy Season 8 but the jokes got from weird to plain lame. We tried watching “The Solitary Man” with Michael Douglas about an aging lothario but alas, it was a yawn-fest. Next, we tried watching “The Secret Diary of a Call Girl” with Billie Piper about… well, the title says it all. It wasn’t great either as the sex scenes are poorly shot and it tries too hard to be artsy (think smoky mirrors and cheesy velvet couches) I finally fell asleep dreaming about sex and dumplings. EH??
I.will.eat.nothing.this.week,
frou
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