Centara Hotel - Chiang Mai

We stayed at the Centara Duangtawan Hotel in Chiang Mai. Chan Brothers gave us the wrong information when we booked. The guy said it was the Amari group, so it got me happy for a while before I realized it was a different chain. Apparently this is still considered one of the beter hotels so yeah. At least it is at a convenient location, the night market is right outside.

Our room. The size is pretty ok for a superior room. After a bad experience with a superior room in Bangkok's Hotel Asia, I try not to book that. I need space and window. I cannot do with a windowless room.
I was surprised by the bathroom. It is actually quite nice. Separate bathtub and shower area. Spacious too.
One of my breakfast plate. Steamed veggies, bacon, bee hoon, chicken sausage, potatoes and fish plus a side of omelette.
Another breakfast plate with middle eastern fare of the fried okra, pita wedge, hummous and tomato with cheese and fried rice.
Strawberry yoghurt with sliced bananas and granola. Super sweet brekkie dish :p The swimming pool. I didn't get the chance to swim as it was always crowded and we were out for 2 whole days. No time at all. This was the view from our room. We saw fireworks one of the night from the window. Awesome!

Brewing Chinese Tea

I like tea but I am no connoisseur of tea at all. My drinking of tea runs the gamut of teh tarik, teh halia, Lipton tea bag infused tea or loose tea leaves in pot or just the standard Chinese tea served at home or restaurants. Thus I was fascinated when one of Taiwan's top tea master was in town last month to demonstrate or teach us how to brew tea correctly. Contrary to general rule of using boiling water to brew the tea, the tea is actually best brewed with room temperature water, something akin to our body temperature. This is when liquid will best be absorbed by the body. So we rinsed the tea cup with boiling water first and then let it cool for a while before dropping 3 tea "pearls" into the cup.
Then you pour the hot water into the tea cup and wait for a while and watch the "pearls" unfurled.
You can use this tea leaves 7 times i.e. refill 6 times. You can even eat the tea leaves too. He also mentioned many things which I have forgotten now :p But apparently drinking cool tea is actually good for the body too. But there is a technique to making it. That is where the word "liang teh" or "liang cha" comes in.

Dim Sum @ Shang Palace

We went to Shang Palace at Shangri-La Hotel for dim sum brunch last Sunday. Finally we are venturing out of our usual dim sum places e.g. Chinese Restaurant at Raffles Town Club and Prima Tower Revolving Restaurant. Before those places, we always went to the (now closed down) Mayflower/Swatow Restaurant at Changi Airport in the 1980s.

I have always like the restaurants in Shang, and would have gone there more often if not for the "way out"-ness of the place :p I just find it so inaccessible if you do not drive. Anyway, we took advantage of the current early bird promotion (valid till end of 2008) where the dim sum dishes are at 30% off. A la carte prices remain the same.
You can select your tea from the sticks inside the canister. So many varieties to choose from.
I like the table setting where every diner gets its own condiments. Nice, you don't have to share with your fellow diners.
The first dish to arrive - mix rice rolls. I didn't realize the mix meant that 3 different types of rolls were served in the same dish (scallops, prawns and barbequed pork)
The shark fin dumpling soup. Very generous serving of the shark fin and the dumpling skin was not too doughy or thick. It was chock ful of ingredients - pieces of prawns, mushrooms and crabmeat I think.

I was pleasantly surprised by the BBQ pork bun. I was never a big fan of BBQ pork bun for dim sum as they tend to be chewy and doughy. This was so light and fluffy that it almost melted in the mouth. Very soft bun, and the meat was not artificial sweet or gelak. See how moist the meat was. Very good.
Some of our dim sum dishes - phoenix claws (I didn't try that), siew mai (also pretty good - not too porky taste at all).

The custard bun with salted egg yolk. This was recommended by my gf. It looked pretty nondescript, eh?
One bite and the custard salted egg yolk just oozed out. Be careful of how you bite it. Unfortunately I think this was quite an acquired taste so not everyone liked it. I liked it though. Something different. Not too sweet or salty.
My dad requested for the bo lu bun as he had a very good one at Shang many moons ago. So he wanted to try it again to see if it lived up to memories.
And no, he didn't think much of the current version. He said the previous one was so much better. This was average, not much difference from those served elsewhere with the bbq meat inside the bun.
My sister requested the 5-flavored rice in hot stone from the A la carte menu - for my nephew and everyone else. But like a typical Chinese kid, he was at the stage where he preferred to run around rather than to sit down and eat. So yeah, my sister had to finish up whatever he didn't eat. I really wonder how other families can get their children to be so well behaved whereas it seemed so much harder for Chinese families. You tend to see Chinese kids run wild in restaurants and shopping malls. The rice was ok, not too bad. Not my favorite dish at all. We ordered other stuff too but I was too busy eating to take pictures - pork ribs, shrimp dumplings, seafood congee, carrot cake, etc.

Vietnamese Prawn Rolls

I was not feeling particularly hungry during lunch so I just ordered the raw Vietnamese prawn rolls with coffee at the Vietnamese stall in Suntec Food Republic.

I love the filtered coffee which is robust and not too acidic. You get to add your own condensed milk so you can adjust the level of sweetness. The prawn rolls were fresh but tiny. Maybe I am used to the size of the rolls in Canada now :p

Fairy Thorn Goblintree

Your fairy is called Thorn Goblintree

She is a bringer of riches and wealth.

She lives in brambles and blackberry bushes.

She is only seen when the first leaves fall from the trees.

She wears purple and green like berries and leaves. She has gentle green wings like a butterfly.

Get your free fairy name here!

My fairy name is Thorn Goblintree. How exciting :p

Meiji Dippy

I couldn't resist when I saw this at the Japanese grocery store at Central Basement. Strawberry and chocolate, they go so well together.

The sticks went so well with the dip, tangy strawberries taste with chocolate. Good thing there were not that many sticks, so it was great as a light snack.

Kenko Fish Spa @ Singapore Flyer (Videos)

D described how it felt to have fish nibbling on your feet




How the fish "attacked" my feet.

Kenko Fish Spa @ Singapore Flyer

We decided we will go over to the Singapore Flyer over the weekend to try out the Fish Spa at Kenko and Popeye's. We didn't expect the shuttle service to "end" early due to the roadblock for National Day Parade Preview. No updated communication between the Flyer and ST. Feeling excited about going into the Fish Spa. There was a promotion which gave us 10 mins shoulder/upper back massage and 30 mins fish spa (where bottom feeder fish nibbled on dead skin cells).
We have to wash our feet with soap/disinfectant before dipping our feet/legs into the spa. Hands not allowed.
We actually had our shoulders massage first which was probably a good thing. Relaxed us first.

We were brought to the pool with medium sized fish. Look at the apprehension on our faces.
The medium sized fish were huge! It didn't help that the 3 persons across from us were also scared. At least 1 guy was scared and didn't put his feet in. The other 2 were quite ok.
I hovered my foot over the water and looked at how "hungry" the fish were. They just zoomed in on the foot, waiting.
So we got scared and moved over to the small fish pool. There are 3 sizes of fish - small, medium and large. D was the bravest of the 3 of us. Hahaha. She put her feet in first.
Our feet - hovering, tucked in and inside the water. We must have scared off any other potential customers by our screams and nervous and terrified expressions.

2nd feet in - A. Yes, I was the most timid of them all. Hahaha. The idea of doing it was great, but when faced with hundreds or thousands of hungry looking fish, it was just too icky and scary. You wondered if it would be painful.
Finally my turn. After what seemed like an eternity (probably 10-15mins), I finally slowly placed my heels into the water. There were a few tries as every time I dipped my heels in and a fish came by, I shrieked and snatched my foot out.
Another fish nibbling on the heels. Despite what others said, you could feel the fish nibbling, sucking on your heels too. One recommended method was to just plunge your feet in without looking, and just experienced the sensation (like a buzzing, mini electric shocks and ticklish).
Our frightened and wary looks. We probably made the most noise. You could see how the other customers were calmly enjoying the fish spa and we were so scared to even try. The staff also knew it and came by several times to see if we have put our feet in and they were very encouraging too.
Yes, we sure did love the fish spa look (yeah, right) :p

Finally, all our feet inside the small fish pool.
My toes were clenched tightly as apparently it was the most ticklish when the fish nibbled around the toes area.
Greedy fish. I saw one fish chasing off other fish. It just wanted my foot to itself.
D - the courageous one. She went over to the big sized fish pool to try. But her terrified look as she gazed upon those fish was not reassuring at all.
D asking the other kids (yes, the children were braver than us :p) how it felt. They described it as electric shocks, similar to the small fish, but 10x worse! Hahaha.

D bravely tried to put her foot into the water. It didn't last. She didn't even plunge the entire foot in. She said she saw the fish opening the mouths widely and it was just too scary. The sucking sensation.
Back to the small fish pool. Last shot of all our feet.
The big fish pool. Somehow the fish looked the same?
Close up. So gross! I think the medium sized fish looked bigger than the big fish.
Okay, 1 shot of 3 of us. Proof that we did put our feet into the fish spa. Whether we liked it was another matter. You kinda get used to it after a while. We actually went overtime but it could be because they knew we took such a long time to actually put our feet in and start the session :p

I was wondering how they cleared away any dead fish cos there were just so many fish swimming and lazing. Then we saw the fish attacking/eating at a dead fish. Yucks! So yeah, we got our answers and it was took gross to look at how the dead fish was being eaten, so we left.

Scotts Lounge @ Grand Hyatt

The pictures' quality is crap as I was not using flash and they were taken by the phone camera. So there I was, alone (while waiting for VL) at the lounge, making myself comfortable on the sofa. It has been ages since I last went to Scotts Lounge at the Grand Hyatt. I have always like the tranquility of the place as it is not overly crowded and people tend to speak in soft tones.

At night, there is usually a jazz singer or band playing some music. On weekend, they served afternoon tea. Dainty pieces of sweets on individual dishes and a wide selection of tea. There is even a tea cosy to keep the tea warm. There is a view of the waterfall through the glass windows on one side of the room.
VL and me, camming. Actually the blurred picture looked good for this :p Flaws are not that obvious.
I ordered a bottle of rosé for us to share as I had quite a long day and needed something to just chill. Plus it has been a long time since I last had a chill out session which involved alcohol. Don't remember the name of the wine but it was from France and it was good. I usually prefer rosé or white wine, which are lighter and not so dry or bitter.

Triple C @ TCC

A late night supper snack when I was feeling peckish. Not that hungry but just a tinge of it. I know TCC does not really serve fantastic food and is fairly pricey too though they excel in their drinks and desserts (especially presentation).

I decided to chance it and order this sandwich - Triple C. It is Japanese curry chicken pieces served with tomato and cheese sandwiches between toasted bread and drizzled with mayo. Yummilicious! The Lychee Jazz drink was also refreshing and nice.

Shape Run 2008 Results Out

My Shape Run 2008 result is out and yes, I am still below 50mins, but I am ranked 3255! Wow! HZ who completed in 31mins was placed 220. So in the 20mins or so, more than 3000 people crossed the finish line (excluding those doing the 10km run).

Now I know why the lines were so long for all the booths and why HZ said it was a breeze picking up her items.

Food for Thought desserts

I finally popped into Food for Thought after lunch one day. I have been meaning to drop by for a meal but somehow it just never happens. So when I walked past it the other day, I just had to go in. The red velvet cake attracted my attention and while making payment, I saw the nutella cupcake. So I got that too.

The nutella cupcake was not bad though it had an alkaline aftertaste and the nutella frosting was very subtle. The alkaline taste kinda overrode the nutella.

The red velevt cake was much better. Not too sweet and with cream cheese buttercream frosting. The red velvet cake was not a common cake in Singapore or anywhere else. At least when you compared to the commonly found brownies, cheesecake, carrot cake and chocolate cake.

The red velvet cake originated from the South in the US. The red color possibly came from the combination of acidic vinegar and buttermilk though most people typically use red coloring or beet to get the color now. Traditionalists will include cocoa in the recipe too.

I am still trying to find a place which serves red velvet cupcakes.

Location:
420 North Bridge Road
#01-06 North Bridge Centre
Tel: 6338 8724
http://www.foodforthought.com.sg

Chicago's Steakhouse @ Orchard Cineleisure

It was the company outing - dinner at Chicago's Steakhouse and then karaoke at K-Box. TH was leaving for Australia and so it was like a farewell thing. I decided to make it a set meal and so it came with soup of the day (cream of fish) and 1 piece of garlic bread and drink.

The soup was not bad, but certainly not my fave. I didn't finish it. The garlic bread was very good though. Warm, crusty and flavorful. Nice.
I had the ribeye steak in Queen's portion with wild mushroom sauce. Errr...I didn't expect it be to like that. Tasted more like cream cheese sauce or something. Too creamy but it was very nice too (only if you like cheese or cream). The ribeye was a bit tough for a medium steak. Bloody pink too. The baked potato was good with the sour cream but I wish it came with the works - chives, bacon bits, butter etc. The steamed veggies were boring and hard.

I don't think I will come back here in a jiffy though the service was good. The food was not really that mind-blowing. Average western fare. Reasonable prices if you come for the set lunch and it lasts till 4pm. Pretty long.