Herbivore Japanese and Western Restaurant @ Bugis

Passed by this recently opened resturant at Fortune Centre a couple of times. Finally went in today to try the food together with Coolgal and Koala. Apparently I read in other blogs that the owner of this restaurant is the same one behine Zen Vegetarian. No wonder we thought the Japanese menu and the ambience have lots of similarities.

The first thing we noticed was the sign outside - "30% percent discount". I guess must be due to opening special. Checked with the waiter and he mentioned the discount is valid till end October.

The ambience is ok. The Japanese bentos are about the range of $18 to $22.

I had Gyoza Shabu Shabu $15 and olive fried rice $7. I thought the Shabu Shabu was fine and the olive fried rice was a tad too oily for me.

Koala has Curry Katsu (about $16 or $18) and Coolgal has Chicken Teriyaki Bento Set ($22).


(Shabu Shabu; picture courtesy of CoolGal)

The Curry Katsu looked delicious and the Chicken Teriyaki Bento Set also tasted quite ok. The dessert menu looks appetizing but we were too full for that.


(Curry Katsu; picture courtesy of CoolGal)

I will give the food 7 out of 10 but the price may be on the high side. Given that there are a number of other organic and vegetarian eating places in the same building, the prices may not be as attractive. Though with the 30% percent discount at the moment, the discounted prices are decent. Will go again to try the others dishes, especially the western fare.

The measure of a person

What is the measure of a person? Job? Net Worth? Or the value of his/her life valued in the intangibles or impact on others?

Come on wake up to the real world!!! Can you survive on air and water only? As espoused by the voices of the world.

Guess only the braves have the courage to take the road less taken. But maybe there is a middle path that can be tread. As the path ahead looks blurry, may the passion continues to burn brightly inside! Thats what keeps people alive! Dreams are made and fulfilled! Saluting the dreamers and daredevils!

Formula One and MBS

Koala and me took our french friends who were here in Singapore for 1 day to walk the Marina Bay on Saturday night. It was the qualifying night for the F1 race. Surprised that there were not many people at the Bay. The view was great and we were treated to fireworks and light shows. In addition, we could hear the cars clearly. They were zipping through the race-course. Cool! :) (Photo is courtesy of Koala)

Orphan Elephants

The National Geographic magazine featured orphan elephants in its issue this month.

Photo is from National Geographic.

I really admire the love the keepers have for the baby elephants. Apparently elephants are very family oriented and cohesive animals. In order to emulate their natural setting, the keepers sleep together with the baby elephants at night. But in order not to create too strong a bond that will be bad for the animal and keepers, the keepers will sleep with different baby elephants every day. The baby elephants drink milk every three hours and they will wake their keepers at night for the milk.

Ice cream making workshop

Went for a ice cream making workshop with Tweet Tickle today.

Photo: Courtesy of Tweet Tickle

I love ice cream and often eat ice cream. I know it is fattening but....only today, I realize how absolutely fattening it is. Full cream milk, sugar, whipping cream ... Wow!!! So absolutely sinful! No wonder it is so delicious for a sweet tooth lover like me.

Now that I know how to make simple ice cream, hoping I can experiment with healthier ingredients and make delicious ice cream. I am a believer that good food can still be healthy food, just need to experiment! :)

Please do not feed wild monkeys

Despite the many signs to remind people not to feed wild monkeys lest they become aggressive, it is very sad to see people still feeding the monkeys in MacRitchie Reservoir today. The no feeding rule is really to protect the monkeys as they will have to be put to sleep if they become aggressive. Maybe the people think they are doing something good by feeding. But is it really?

Mayday 3D DNA movie

Went to Mayday movie today. More like a concert movie as many of their songs are featured in the movie and the story centered over their concerts. Ticket was expensive at $20 each. Still managed to enjoy myself as I quite like their songs and they are quite positive. The lyrics of their songs are usually more sunshine in nature. It certainly helped to boost spirits. Especially when we are surrounded by negative news such as Europe debt crisis, high inflation, fraud by traders etc. The world certainly needs more uplifting news.

Mobile Ice Cream Man

After dinner today, it was time for ice cream when my friend and I chanced upon the mobile ice cream man at Clarke Quay. The lady in front of us wanted a type of ice cream that was not available today. The ice cream man uncle made an lengthy elaborate effort to explain its unavailability .....something to do with dry ice and the manufacturer. I was suitably impressed he made the effort even though the lady looked disinterested.

Yeah, my turn! *Uncle, 2 mint choc chip ice cream, one in a cup and one with biscuits.*

First the uncle took his cloth and cleaned the knife of any remaining ice cream from the previous order. Then he took the King's ice cream cube left from the previous order and put it back into the cold storage. With that, he brought up the King's Mint flavor ice cream cube and started to cut it. Once cut, he took 2 biscuits out from his biscuit tin and put them at the exposed sides of the ice icream and then placed a clean clear plastic over the biscuits. Then he peeled the cupboard wrapping from the covered side of the ice cream while also scooping ice cream remnants stuck at the cupboard wrapping and placed it back to my ice cream cube. Finishing mine, he continued to work on my friend's order of ice cream in a cup.

His speed and dedication so impressed me. He effort to gave his customer their deserved portion including the remnants stuck at the cupboard is out of the world.

Indeed the ice cream costed me $1 each, but the dedication, pride and effort the uncle put in certainly made me feel the ice cream was worth so much more. Definitely much more than the $5.80 ice cream I had yesterday in a restaurant. (Yes I have been eating too much ice cream this week. Will ration for the whole of this month.) In fact, we passed by a ice cream palor selling expensive ice cream on the way home. The ice cream in the palor may be costly but the ice cream that I just had, beats it anyday!

From the uncle, I learnt is not about how much one earns in one's job or how much something is worth, is about the respect, pride, dedication and passion that are put in or felt that make the real difference.

Thank you Ice Cream Man Uncle, You make my day! :)

Nice quote

Just to share with you this quote:

The sun shines and warms and lights us and we have no curiosity to know why this is so; but we ask the reason of all evil, of pain, and hunger, and mosquitoes and silly people. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Running

These few weeks I have been running often to prepare for a half marathon in Dec. Signed up to encourage myself to exercise regularly.

I have to say I am literally dragging myself out of the door each time to run. Not really a fan of running. Personally I feel running is a pretty lonely and not so interesting. You just run and run and in solitude.

I have probably yet to discover the essence and beauty of running. For now, I am meeting my goal to exercise regularly. The next part is to enjoy the progress.

Fat loss

Excerpts from a Yahoo article I read. A good reminder for me.

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/blogs/fit-to-post-sports/might-sabotaging-fitness-program-part-1-075643621.html

2. Concern with weight loss and not fat loss.

Most clients come in with a "target weight". While being of the correct weight is ok, it is not nearly as important as being of a good level of body fat.

We try to get "regular" people with jobs, families and other commitments down to 10-12 percent fat for men, and 16-19 percent for women. For most people this means a nice flat stomach and probably visible abs.

A lady can be 57kg and 16 percent bodyfat and be in great health, but another lady who weighs 57kg at 35 percent fat is in horrible shape.

They may be the same height and the same weight, but their health markers will be very different. Overall inflammation, brain function, blood fats, etc, will be much improved at a low body fat level.

Women (sorry ladies, its just an observation, nothing personal!) in particular have trouble making the distinction between weight and fat. So the key point I like to teach is that (depending on which studies you read) a kilo of muscle burns an extra 100+ calories per day while you do ... nothing!

It is like investing your money in a sure-fire growth fund. It pays you back while you sleep (literally!). In addition it looks lean, feels firm and is attractive.

So, taking regular body fat readings is critical to success! It is a much more objective indicator than weight which fluctuates with time of day, hydration status (i.e. did you pee?), hormonal fluctuations especially in ladies, water retention from illness or allergy etc.