Confused Vege

Here’s a vegetable with an identity crisis. It can’t decide whether to be a vegetable or a noodle.

Called a spaghetii squash, it’s a squash with spaghetti-like innards. When you scrape the flesh with a fork, it falls into noodle-like strands. How awesome is that for noodle-craving people on a low-carb diet?

I had a chance to try it at a food tasting session at The Cathay Restaurant, recently.

Double-Boiled Shark’s Bone Cartilage with Bamboo Pith in Spaghetti Squash.

The milky soup is created by double boiling shark cartilage so it’s really healthy and nutritious. The “spaghetti” is also fun to scrape and eat! Quite worth a try, in my opinion.

However, I found the soup slightly bland (cos I’m really big on salt) but Nanny Wen, who has healthier tastes than me, really loved it. The squash is nice, though. It tastes a bit like winter melon. You can practically eat this dish as a full meal. Nanny Wen and I were served one each but we couldn’t finish it because we had five other dishes to try that night!

If you get the chance to visit, also try the Cathay Twin Combination (baked sea perch with egg white + deep-fried scallop with salted egg yolk). I loved that!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Choco Cravings

Once in a while, I get huge cravings for chocolate, during which time I will pay Candy Empire a visit.

I love-hate Candy Empire. Things there are expensive but there are cool yummies there which you can’t find anywhere else in Singapore. Each time I go, I’ll spend about $50 and then feel really bad about it because it’s such unhealthy extravagance.

I just bought this lot for $45.20. But, like, where else can you find White TimTams and White Maltesers?

I love milk and white chocolate. I hate dark chocolate. I will never be able to understand the appeal of dark chocolate (and coffee, for the matter).

They both make my tongue feel sour and gross. It’s a very uncomfortable feeling, so I really can’t understand why people don’t feel it!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Tofu Delight

There’s this Chinese fusion restaurant in Iluma called HXL Fusion. I was at first in love with it so I patronised it four times within, like, a month.

I was going to do a full review of the place but the food standard dropped drastically in the last two times I went. The stuff I wanted to recommend didn’t taste so good anymore.

Still, the pork floss century egg tofu deserves a mention.

The first two times I ate it, it was awesome. Savoury with a sweet, lingering taste.

The final time I ate it, the recipe had changed. It suddenly had chilli oil and possibly some fermented beancurd paste and it was quite spicy. It had gone from Taiwanese to Szechuanese. (The photo above was taken when it was still the first version.)

I prefer the first version but the new one isn’t too bad.

Still, I wonder if the recipe will be changed again the next time I go back.

I haven’t been back in two months.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Insincere Soup

We were having dinner at Waraku de Pasta the other night. I remember I loved the corn soup, so I ordered a bowl. It was still awesome, so I urged my friends try it.

They loved it, too, so they ordered two more bowls.

When their soup arrived, it very obviously inferior — more watery and bland.

We can probably allow for some inconsistency in food standards across separate occasions, but in the same night? Within 10 minutes?

Very insincere!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Top Five

Could you name your top five favourite eating places if pressed to? Food lovers will probably find it really hard because we have zillions of favourite eating places.

I had to name five for Star Blog this week.

Check out what places made my list, and also get some ideas for yummies this weekend in the other Star Bloggers’ entries!

By the way, I don’t really like chocolate fondue cos chocolate fountains always use dark chocolate. Eew.

Advertorial

Last year, I made my friends buy me an iPod nano for my birthday so I could use Nike+ for my running.

Nike+ is a technology that measures distance, pace and calories burnt (and a lot more) while you’re running. I’ll talk more about it later. Back to my iPod nano.

After I got it, I ended up not buying the required Nike+ iPod Sport Kit. It’s one of those procrastination things. So I’ve just been using my nano for music while I run.

But I still want my Nike+ and I think I’ve found the right motivation to get it right now!

The Nike+ Human Race 10K is coming on Oct 24 and I’m eager to take part in it because it is the Day the World Runs. Literally!

Last year, almost 780,000 people all over the world took part in this race.

On that one day, all these people plugged into Nike+ and ran. And all these people were located in different countries all over the world. Very cool, is it not?

This year, there’s an attractive spin to the race: The Guys vs. Girls Challenge, involving an attractive pair of celebrities to entice us to do our part for charity!

Tay Ping Hui and Rui En are leading a gender face-off, which is an ongoing charity event that will culminate in the Human Race 10K.

From now till Oct 24, when you clock miles using Nike+, your miles will contributed to your gender. The gender that clocks the most miles wins!

Each gender champions a different cause. Guys are running for WWF-World Wide Fund for Nature while girls are running for ST School Pocket Money Fund. Nike will donate $50,000 in stages to the winning gender’s charity in each stage.

Um, the guys, led by Tay Ping Hui, are winning. They’ve already won the first three stages. Only two more stages to go!

I reckon they should have made Tay Ping Hui lead the girls and Rui En lead the guys. There might have been a fiercer competition!

In any case, we need more girls to take part. Give poor children in Singapore a chance. We need to win for the ST School Pocket Money Fund, too, so sign up here!

A while back, 98.7FM DJs got together to contribute miles for this good cause.

Looks really fun, ya?

Let’s talk about Nike+ now.

First, the gear. You’ll need some Nike+ gear in order to take part in the Human Race 10K, as well as the Guys Vs. Girls Challenge.

There are a few options to choose from.

Option 1

[iPod nano + Sport Kit + shoes]

The Sport Kit comes with a sensor (to attach to your shoes) and a receiver (to plug into your nano). These two things allow your nano to register your runs and record your progress. You can either view the info on the screen or have it read to you via earphones.

Option 2

[iPod touch + Sensor + shoes]

The iPod Touch already comes with built-in support for Nike+, so a receiver isn’t needed. Otherwise, it funtions just like the nano package.

Option 3

[Nike+ Sportband]

This cute little wristband (available in several colours) records your runs without requiring an iPod. When you get home, you can detach the black gizmo and plug it into a USB port to upload your run data. The Sportband comes with a sensor, which you’lll need to attach to your shoes.

So, just get any of these and you’re ready to roll.

But Nike+ is more than just gear. It’s a whole support system that connects you with runners from all over the world via the Internet.

Once you get the gear and get plugged in, a whole new world is opened up to you. You will be able to find, on the Nike+ website, a whole lot of activities and training options.

For instance, you can upload your run data online to tell the world how much you’ve been working out. You can compete with your friends or motivate each other online without needing to physically run together.

There are also cool programs like Nike+ Goals and Nike+ Coach, which help you set specific goals and customise training sessions.

Ultimate coolness!

But the coolest thing about Nike+ right now is that it allows us to be part of the Human Race 10K. I’m so hyped about it! I wonder how many participants there will be this year. A million?

Taking part in the race is simple. All you need to do is sign up for it, then get some Nike+ gear and sync it up on Oct 24. You can run anywhere, at any hour, on that day.

It’s literally the biggest race in the world, ever!

I have some friends who love running but shun races because they’re afraid of crowds. So I think this is just the race for them. They can pick a quiet spot to run on Oct 24 and still be part of the biggest race in the world. Nike+ would be great for them.

What about you, then? Are you going to be a part of the Human Race 10K?

I stumbled upon this old Facebook game called Dungeons & Dragons: Tiny Adventures, about a week ago. The game is more than a year old but it’s so cool that it’s still getting new fans every day.

It’s a lot more simplistic than the old tabletop D&D but gives you the same kind of happy ownership of a character which you can level up and buy equipment for.

The game was basically designed for people to play while doing other things. In its own words:

Tiny Adventures was envisioned as a game you play sporadically, off and on, while you are doing other things. It’s not healthy to do any single activity for hours on end, so we have provided Tiny Adventures as a fun game you can use to intersperse in your other activities.

When you have a free minute you can check on your Tiny Adventurer and see how they were doing. You might read an encounter or two and use a potion, you might buy an item in the shop and buff your friends, or you might find the adventure has completed and send your hero out on another quest.

I like that.

Play it here.

==================================================

Table of Contents

1. Professor Layton is back!
2. Time Wasters by Swordplay
3. The Xbox 360 Gaming Showdown 09
4. Win exclusive FCUK Ghostbusters tees
5. Results of last week’s contest

==================================================

Professor Layton is back!

We rarely get girl-friendly games we can rave over, but shortly after Scribblenauts comes Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box!

The Diabolical Box is the second title in the Professor Layton series of puzzle games made for the Nintendo DS. It was launched two weeks ago but I didn’t get to touch it until now because Scribblenauts was hogging my attention.

I’m enjoying TDB a bit more than I enjoyed the first Professor Layton game.

The gameplay is the same, but I prefer the story this time. It’s about this scary box which kills anyone who opens it. Playing as Professor Layton and his apprentice, Luke, you will have to solve the mystery without killing yourself in the process.

Of course, the main appeal of the Professor Layton series lies not in the background story but in the endless puzzles that you meet along the way towards solving the bigger mysteries.

There are many types of puzzles to thrill puzzle lovers — logic puzzles, math puzzles, word puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, sliding puzzles, detective puzzles, well, just about any puzzle you can name.

The varying difficulty level of the puzzles keeps it fun because sometimes you want the joy of solving a puzzle really quickly, while other times you want the satisfaction of prevailing against a frustratingly challenging puzzle.

Easy puzzle:

Medium puzzle:

Hard puzzle:

Each puzzle comes with three hints, which you can unlock with hint coints. What I don’t like about the game is the way hint coins are earned.

The coins are hidden in every room you come across. By tapping at objects, you unearth the hidden coins. For example, in this room, the coin might be hidden in the chef’s hat.

Each room houses a few coins, but there are hundreds of rooms in the game and I really hate tapping at every spot just to find a few coins.

The game boasts 120 main puzzles, with 15 more to be unlocked at the end of the game.

Professor Layton games are a fun way to help people stave off dementia in their later years, so I think everyone should play this game!

[Back to Table of Contents]

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Time Wasters by Swordplay

Swordplay is my pesky li’l bro who spends all his time playing time-wasting games. To make him a little bit more useful, I’m sitting on him and making him recommend one fun and simple web-based game each week.

This week’s game: Stick War

Swordplay didn’t like the game too much. It’s a Civilisation type game. But he loved the music. He thought the gameplay was a bit of an anti-climax after being introduced to the epic music.

I thought the game looked fun, but I didn’t have time to try it because it seemed more like a time sink than a time waster.

But check out the music, anyway. It sounds like one of those Hollywood epic movies, like Gladiator or something. (Not the intro music, the one during the actual gameplay itself.)

[Back to Table of Contents]

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The Xbox 360 Gaming Showdown 09

Make a date with the Xbox 360 blockbuster gaming event of the year at VivoCity, on Oct 23 to 25, 2009!

Xbox 360 and its gaming partners are bringing together the biggest hits of the 2009 holiday season under one roof. Expect exclusive hands-on sessions with unreleased games and a chance to win $20,000 worth of prizes in stage challenges throughout the weekend.

Click here for more information on specific games and activities you can look forward to at the event!

[Back to Table of Contents]

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Win exclusive FCUK Ghostbusters tees

If you’re already a fan of the Xbox 360 Facebook fan page, as you should be, you should already know about this giveaway.

Five awesome limited ediction FCUK Ghostbusters tees are up for grabs this week.

You have to be really quick because the closing date is tonight (Oct 9) at 11:59 pm.

Join here!

Instructions are on the giveaway page but it’s very simple. You just have to be a fan, then accept the event invite, then send an e-mail.

That’s all. Good luck!

[Back to Table of Contents]

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Results of last week’s contest

Wow! Skyy wins a limited edition Forza Motorsport 3 thumbdrive for being such a big Forza fan!

He designed an RX-8 in Forza Motorsport 2 using the game’s customisation features, and then loved it so much that he made his real-life RX-8 look exactly like his Forza RX-8!

Wow, such dedication!

Skyy is going to LOVE Forza Motorsport 3 because the cars in the new game will look so detailed they’re practically photo-realistic!

1989 Ferrari F40

Anyway, congratulations, Skyy! Please contact me to claim your thumbdrive within two months!

Thank you for participating!

[Back to Table of Contents]

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

That’s all for today! As usual, I need to rush off. For a meeting, this time.

Sorry there’s no GGF giveaway this week. My giveaway box is a mess and I need some time to take stock and mail out some outstanding prizes that I forgot to. :P And also to decide what to do with prizes that were never claimed.

Go take part in the Xbox Facebook fan page giveaways in the meantime. These’s always something new and interesting, and they’re not always games!

I’m thinking I should bring a hair curling tong with me wherever I go. (It used to be hairspray, for keeping the hair up throughout the day).

After I discovered the power of cute curls not so long ago, I now spend 30 minutes to curl my hair whenever I have time (Otherwise, I just leave it straight and go out.)

For variety, I might do something different, like curl then braid it.

On this particular day, I let a bit of fringe hang loose and gave it a little twirl, cos it’s cute that way. It’s a bit hard to see from the picture but it’s twirled two rounds.

It stayed nicely twirled for 30 minutes or so while I was in my room, finishing up my preparations.

But the moment I stepped out of home, it started to unwind. Mere minutes later, it became this:

This, despite tons of curling lotion and hairspray on it.

I think Singapore is too humid. My curls can stay in air-conditioned places but not in natural weather.

Next time, I think I need to bring the curling tong out and make curls only after I arrive at my destination. Assuming it’s an air-conditioned place. And it has a power socket for me to plug the tongs in. And there’s a nice big mirror for me to use.

But how dumb is that?

I don’t mean to be disrespectful at all. I just want to know who (or what) these men are.

Where are they going and why are they carrying leaves?

This was photographed across the road from UE Square.

My first response when I saw them was amusement. That was quickly followed by curiosity.

Then a little bit of guilt because it’s rude to gawk.

But then, I think people in general are so set in mundane ways that anything just a bit out of the ordinary sparks interest.

I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing.

I suppose having the ability to be delighted by things is good. But ridiculing people for being different is not.

So, let’s be interested but not derisive.