I suppose I should feel proud for Singapore that you can find Singapore Noodles in almost every Asian restaurant menu in the UK (and probably in the USA as well).

Okay, except Japanese and Korean ones. They’re pretty specialised.

But go to a Thai or Vietnamese or Chinese or Malay restaurant and you’ll see Singapore Noodles. And Singapore would usually be the only country you see under the noodle category.

Sometimes they call it Singapore Fried Noodles, or other similar variations, but it’s all the same thing.

You know my beef with Singapore Noodles. There is no such thing in Singapore. Nothing in Singapore looks or tastes remotely like it.

Instead of feeling proud, I feel a bit embarrassed because people all over the world must think we like that atrocity and eat it all the time.

It’s a good thing that the guy who did the Wiki page on that dish knows what’s going on. Here, I quote:

The dish appears on the menu of almost all Chinese-style (mainly Cantonese-style) eateries in Hong Kong, the dish is also very popular in English, Australian and American Chinese cuisine. It is important to note that Singapore style noodles is not a cultural product of Singapore and is virtually non-existent in Singapore. Its naming may have been based on the stereotype that Singapore cuisine is generally spicy, and might have originated from an enterprising restaurateur eager to add a dash of exoticism to his menu.

How stupid is that?

I mean the fact that some stupid bloke created this stupid dish and used our country’s name in vain.

I think there should be some law that says you need to get permission to use a country’s name in your product. Otherwise, people all over the world could end up being confused and misled.

And how strange that people actually like Singapore Noodles. People who like it should go to Singapore for a gastronomic education, then you’ll not want to eat it again.

So what is wrong with Singapore Noodles in England?

Firstly, the noodle used is wrong. They call it rice noodle here. I’m not sure what we call it in Singapore because we don’t eat noodles like that in Singapore.

Secondly, curry powder is a key ingredient. We don’t usually use that in our fried noodles in Singapore.

It’s nothing like the delicious Curry Maggi Mee Goreng you can find in Malaysia, maybe also in Singapore but I think Malaysians do it better.

Okay, to be fair, I’ve only sampled Singapore Noodles once in Australia and once in England, but that’s already two times too many.

I’ve seen many variations, though, either in menu photos or at takeaway counters and they never look the least bit appealing, so I can never bring myself to augment my sampling data.

I recently tried it at a popular Chinese restaurant in the seaside town of Weymouth. It looks really good, actually. The first Singapore Fried Noodles I’ve seen in real life that looks edible.

But then I put it in my mouth and my appetite tendered its resignation.

Very strong curry power taste. Eew.

Noodle is soft and gross, a bit like overcooked cup noodles.

If only they’d use real vermicelli and give the curry powder a miss. It could actually taste decent.

Well, actually, I don’t know what real vermicelli is. Okay, they should just use what we use in Singapore, which is the white, thin and firm variety of vermicelli. Then it’ll be more like the sin chew bee hoon that Singapore Noodles supposedly took its inspiration from.

(And here’s another stupidity: Sin chew bee hoon does not originate from Singapore, either. It’s from Hong Kong or China, I’m not sure.)

Anyway, I can’t say for sure that all Singapore Noodles are disgusting, but I can’t be too optimistic about it, either.

I enjoyed the other stuff we ordered at the Chinese restaurant where I tried the Singapore noodles.

It’s called Ming Wah Restaurant and enjoys a thriving business.

It’s over an hour’s drive from where we live and Piers used to drive there just to buy one specific dish that he loves, the Crispy Shredded Beef.

It tastes exactly like sweet and sour pork does in Singapore, even though it’s beef. You can’t really taste the meat type anyway because the sauce is so strong. Ming Wah does it really well. The sauce is just the right blend of sweet and sour and the batter remains crispy to the end.

It was Piers’ first time eating in the restaurant. He always used to do takeaways, so he’s used to eating the beef a bit soggy. And he would buy four boxes each time to store in the fridge and eat cold over the next few days.

So used is he to the dish being cold and soggy that he was actually disappointed by the crispy, hot version.

Crazy ang moh!

Okay, side track a bit first. Here are the other things we ate at Wing Wah:

Fried wan ton, king prawns in batter, salt and pepper squid

I loved the fried wan ton. It’s fried in the thin popiah skin which is my favourite kind. The prawn filling was generous, but the prawn had a bit of a too-strong taste, like either not too fresh or didn’t get cleaned properly. But you get that sometimes in dim sum, and I’m not too bothered by it.

The king prawns in batter could be crispier, but otherwise quite tasty. The prawns were nice and fresh.

The salt and pepper squid was a bit tasteless, although the fried garlic it came covered in was fragrant and sweet.

Hot and sour soup

There was way too much vinegar in the soup (perhaps too much sugar as well), but it could have been the perfect hot and sour soup. The ingredients were generous and the consistency of the soup was nicely thick.

Egg fried rice

This rice went very well with the Crispy Shredded beef. The taste was almost plain but it had a light eggy fragrance which made it a great complement to strong-tasting dishes.

Anyway, this isn’t meant to be a food review, but some people seem to feel disappointed when I post food pictures and don’t describe them a bit, so there you go.

Now, about Singapore noodles. We didn’t finish our noodles that night because we were too full from the other dishes, so we decided to take it home.

I didn’t like it, but it was still edible if you locked up your taste buds when doing the deed, and not as gross as I had described it. (I was just trying to emphasize that it’s really no good at all as a noodle dish.)

I had it for lunch. Refried it with an egg and a dab of hoisin sauce. Then, ate it with Thai sweet chilli sauce. The curry taste was almost lost so that was good. Noodles were still sickeningly soft, but that can’t be helped.

I showed Piers my noodles through webcam (he was at work) and told him what I did to it.

And he said, “Cool, you’re eating real Singapore noodles now!”

“Huh?” I said.

“Well, you cooked it and you’re a Singaporean, so that makes it Singapore noodles!”

A bit “duh”, since I didn’t cook it but merely reheated it and threw in a few things, but you see where I got the inspiration for my above cartoon from.

I’m sure, somewhere in the world, we can find genuinely tasty Singapore Noodles (just not in Singapore because, remember, Singapore Noodles do not exist in Singapore) but I’m also sure it’ll be tough going and I don’t think I’m up for the challenge of finding it.

I really can’t be bothered, anyhow, because there are a lot better and nicer things to eat than stupid curry-flavoured noodles.

Trust me.

Sometimes, on a weekend, you’re torn between sleeping in and getting up early to do something fun.

I mean early like 6 am. Sometimes a lot earlier, like if you had to catch the 5 am train to London so as to maximise your time there.

But it was for 6 am on Sunday when I sacrificed sleep in the name of adventure. Not adventure in the traditional sense of the word, but more in terms of interesting and fun.

Sunday, I agreed to visit the home of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars in the prestigious estate of Goodwood because its doors rarely open for the public.

It wasn’t just about getting a peek inside the factory that produces the most expensive luxury cars in the world, it was also about getting together with hundreds of sports cars and their owners, who would congregate on the massive grounds of Goodwood.

Sounded like fun.

We left home at 7:20 am to meet up with Piers’ cousin, Simon, who drives a red Ferrari 355 Spider, and Simon’s friend, Badger, who drives a TVR Griffith 500.

Here are their three cars parked side by side in Goodwood. (There’s Olive in the middle.)

It was fun driving there together, a journey that took a bit over an hour even with a lot of speed bursts on the highway. By the time we arrived, there was a line forming outside the gates because each car had to be checked against the invite list.

This event was organised by PistonHeads, a leading automotive website in the UK with a huge online community, and 400 cars were given a pass to the event, called the Rolls-Royce Sunday Service.

All PistonHeads events and meets are called Sunday Service, apparently, although I don’t know why because it just makes me think of church.

Anyway, the morning went something like this: Arrive at Goodwood and park. Drool at everyone else’s beautiful sports cars. Have breakfast. Play around with the few Rolls-Royces displayed on the grounds. Drool at more cars. Tour the Rolls-Royce factory. Go back out to drool at yet more cars.

Not an epic adventure but quite good fun.

Photography isn’t allowed inside the actual manufacturing plant but, well, they look just like the insides of manufacturing plants, so you can imagine for yourself.

We learnt interesting bits of trivia, like how clients would fly all the way to the premises to look at their cars. Some rich guy had visited the plant regularly for a year to witness his Rolls-Royce being built from scratch.

I didn’t know that Rolls-Royce made convertibles. They’re gorgeous.

Here’s one.

A very very old one. LOL.

Okay, I’m going to stop yabbering and do photos now.

Loads and loads of cars!

We were done by 11 am, so that’s when we left the premises, although the gates would only close at 1 pm.

It was interesting, the event, certainly worthy of sacrificing my sleep-in.

Piers “invented” a really delicious Asian snack combo: Prawn crackers with hoisin sauce! So proud of him!

I also found this awesome lemongrass-flavoured prawn crackers at Tesco. From Netherlands, but makers were Indoneisan settlers. Tastes so great when you dip into hoisin sauce (sparingly)!

Today is my birthday and also the second anniversary of the day I first knew of Piers’ existence.

Two years ago today, Piers decided to drop me a Facebook message after reading my blog for a couple of weeks. He really enjoyed my writings so decided to show his appreciation by letting me know. (I think my writings were less bimbotic, then. :P)

He didn’t know it was my birthday when he sent me that message because I didn’t have my birthday listed on Facebook then.

And I didn’t even remember it until we got together this February and I went back to look at the message and saw that it had come on my birthday.

There’s a funny little story about how he chanced upon my blog in the first place, but I’ll leave that story for another day.

I thought his message was quite funny and sincere, so I gave him a thank-you reply. After a couple more funny back and forths, we stopped conversing and he joined Plurk.

I think he was more active in Plurk than I was, haha. Anyway, we were never really close or anything, just regular Plurk friends like everyone else.

Well, then, a year and a half later, you already know that story, I came to England and we made our history.

Okay, one day I will tell the full story but I have to go now because there’s the rest of my birthday to enjoy.

The weather is great today. =)

I never thought I’d say this but I’m loving Invisalign after three weeks on it.

I don’t really know why, especially since I had such a hard time with it initially.

Maybe it’s because it gives me some purpose in life, something to look forward to, even though I’ve never really thought about having my teeth corrected. (I’m doing it now because I’m sponsored. Why not, right?)

Maybe it’s because I thrive on the challenge of keeping to the rigid ritual of tooth-brushing and aligner-cleaning that I have to go through several times a day. I’m the sort of person who really hates rituals and sameness, so this is quite a challenge for me.

I’m not loving it to the extent that I want to have it on forever. I still can’t wait for it to be done because it is inconvenient and sometimes painful, but I’m actually beginning to enjoy the process.

When I was still in Singapore, I started worrying about cramping Piers’ lifestyle because he would always have to wait for me to clean my teeth and aligners after every meal, a process that takes about six minutes at home and longer outside because I have to fix my makeup and hair afterwards.

We can’t now just sit back and relax after we’re done eating, continuing to enjoy, without interruption, our music or TV show or conversation.

But Piers has been very patient and supportive and taking it in his stride. He even does the washing up while I’m cleaning my teeth so the kitchen and our dining table are spic-and-span by the time I’m done, and we can get on with our evening enjoyment.

It makes me feel very bad, especially since he does the cooking, too, most of the time, but he refuses to let me do the dishes and always chases me off to the bathroom to do my teeth.

It helps a lot to have such an understanding partner.

=D

Okay, Q&A now! Here are the questions I’ve been asked:

Q: How much does Invisalign cost?

A: It varies from case to case. Mine costs about S$8,000.

Q: What’s the process of getting Invisalign?

A: First, you have to go for a consultation to assess whether you’re suitable for it. You’ll have everything explained and all your questions answered. Your next appointment will be to take x-rays and photos of your teeth, and have a mould done. About two weeks later, you get to see computerised pictures of how your teeth will move throughout every stage of your treatment. Six to eight weeks later, you’ll receive your first Invisalign aligners as well as get attachments bonded to your teeth.

Q: How long does the treatment last?

A: About one year, typically. Some people finish in six months while some take two years or more.

Q: Can I just do one row of teeth if my bottom (or top) teeth are okay?

A: It’s possible to do only one row, but it’s not advisable because both your rows of teeth will be a bit out of alignment when you only wear one row, so you won’t be able to bite down properly. Also, the cost is about the same whether you do one or both rows. Some orthodontists might not do it.

Q: Do I have to extract any teeth to do Invisalign?

A: In severe cases, teeth extractions have been done. But this is a question that only your orthodontist can answer after examining your teeth.

Q: Can Invisalign close gaps between teeth?

A: Yes it can. In fact, if you have “triangles” between your teeth due to receding gums (those tiny triangle-shaped holes), Invisalign can help to reduce the appearance of that.

Q: What are the pros and cons of Invisalign and traditional braces?

A: Let’s break this down into different aspects:

Looks – This is the most obvious difference, of course. People really can’t tell you have Invisalign on unless they look really closely, like almost kissing distance. And if you’re still self-conscious about it, you can remove them any time, for an important meeting or photoshoot or whatever.

Cost – Invisalign is significantly more expensive. In some cases, it could be double the amount of traditional braces.

Discomfort – Invisalign causes pain and discomfort just like traditional braces do but I think to a lesser extent. Some people report very minimal pain and discomfort with Invisalign, so I think it varies for different people. You do need to have various numbers of attachments bonded to your teeth, which could also cause some discomfort when they rub against your mouth, but I think they’re a lot better than braces.

Eating – Invisalign is more inconvenient in this area because you always have to remove your aligners before eating or drinking anything other than plain water. And you have to brush your teeth after every meal before putting your aligners back on. That makes it very inconvenient for when you want to eat out. On the other hand, wearing traditional braces means you have a long list of restricted foods, plus metal braces are harder to brush.

Q: Do you sound or talk differently with Invisalign?

A: For the first week, I spoke with a lisp but my tongue slowly adjusted so now I’m talking almost normally. I think now there is a very slight difference that only I can tell. Piers says I sound the same as I used to. =P

Q: Your teeth look perfect. Why do you need Invisalign?

A: My teeth do look okay in some angles, especially from the front, but they are quite crooked in actuality. Here are the computer visuals of my teeth. The top picture shows what my teeth are now. Below that shows what my teeth will look like after the treatment.

Before:

After:

That’s all the Q&As I have. If you have other questions, ask them here and I’ll try my best to answer.

If you’re planning to get Invisalign, do make sure you get it done by an experienced orthodontist who has been trained in Invisalign procedures, so that your treatment will be smooth and without complications.

I am lucky to be treated by Dr Poon, courtesy of Neuglow Dental @ TripleOne Somerset. She’s very experienced and also very sweet, gentle and patient. But I don’t have a proper photo of her because she’s also very camera shy, lol.

You can see in the background her two doggies which she gives to patients to hold on to for comfort when undergoing uncomfortable or boring treatment. They’re mostly for her children patients, I think, but she always gives me Winston the bulldog whenever she has to do stuff to my teeth.

Anyway, it’s quite important to get a nice orthodontist because you’ll be meeting him or her a lot during the process of your treatment.

I’m planning to be done with my treatment within seven or eight months. Hope my teeth cooperate! Can’t wait to see how I look, even though I’ve already seen the “after” picture in the computer program. Will be so weird to not have to bother with aligners again!

Will leave you with two more photos. They show how unnoticeable Invisalign is!

Wearing Invisalign:

Not wearing Invisalign: