Minus 8, A special treats from Blu, Shangri-la Hotel Singapore

On Tuesday (26th Jun 2012), me and my wife went to the Blu Restaurant, Shangri-la Hotel Singapore for my wife's early birthday dinner celebration (our annual "ritual"). The reason why we have it much earlier is because the fine dinning restaurant, Blu that we frequent is going to close down for good (what a shame!).

This being our last fine dinning there, it was also one of the best fine dinning experience we have had (in Singapore, at least). On top of the knowledgeable and top-notch hospitality of the waiting staffs (always serve with a homely smile), there are wave upon wave of surprises hit us like lighting, the personalized birthday card, the martini treats and the best of all, a special invite to the kitchen (yes, you heard it right) to have our mother of all surprises of the night: A special treats from chef Kelvin Chia called Minus 8.

It's a mix of science and dessert preparation! Minus 8 is actually a small strip of chocolate with mint flavor, covered with marsh-mallow. It was dipped into a pot of -110 degree C liquid Nitrogen. Chef Kelvin reminded us that once he lift up the Minus 8, we need to consume it in one mouth. The coldness of Nitrogen transformed the marsh-mallow into crispy pieces that melt inside our mouth and the lingering after-taste of mint made us a pair of very happy customer.

Bad news is that not many people will have the chance to experience this little magic of Chef Kelvin but hope that our next visit to Shangri-la Hotel will be hit will another wave of surprises! 

Well done and thank you Chef Kelvin for this special surprise!

Following are some photos taken while we are at Blu:

Taken before the dinner

Magic hands of Chef Kelvin carefully dipping Minus 8 inside the pot of Nitrogen

The little magic called "Minus 8"

Chef Kelvin Chia and my lovely wife

My wife and me after the satisfying dinning experience

Cheers!            

Surprise Catch: Neil Humphreys (Return To A Sexy Island)

I was utterly thrilled for what had happen today! 

First time in my life that I have bought a signed book directly from the author. The best part is able to take a few shots with the friendly author. The author that I am talking about is Neil Humphreys and the book that I've bought is "Return To A Sexy Island".

For those who are from Singapore will probably heard or seen this British author. He has written a few highly acclaimed and best seller books about Singapore and soccer, "Notes From An Even Smaller Island", "Scribble From The Same Island" and "Match Fixer", just to name a few. I have been a fan of his work for quite sometime. His wittiness, direct and insightful account of Singapore and Soccer scene just made me lol countless times. 

"Return To A Sexy Island" is his latest book about the new Singapore from his perspective after 5 years absence from this lovely island (he moved to Australia five years ago). With his return, I am sure it will add a tinge of colorfulness here and there in the local publishing scene.

For those who are interested to read more about him and his books, check out his official site at Neil Humphreys.

Oh ya, the photos! did I mention that I've gotten a few photo-shot with him? Here are for the sharing:

The tall author (Neil Humphreys) and me (1)

The tall author (Neil Humphreys) and me (2)

The tall author (Neil Humphreys) and me (3)

The book (Return To A Sexy Island) and the signed poster

The signed book (He knows I am a Man Utd fan)

Cheers! 

15 Funny Comics About Web/Computer That Set You Thinking

Have you ever thought about how the computer and internet(web) have made a difference to our lives? Well,  to look at it in a lighter note, I've compiled the following 15 funny comics related to computer and web. I personally like comic strips as many a time it not only make you laugh (as in LOL*), it also set you thinking (occasionally)!

These comic strips are meant to just make you LOL! Hope they live up to your expectation! ;-)

Enjoy...

*In case you still don't know (which I doubt so), LOL stands for Laugh Out Loud!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers!

SPECIAL: Why Concrete Skirting is better for manufactured or mobile homes

Today, I am going to share a topic that is “outside the box” i.e. something not related to the theme of my blog. Just the other day, while browsing through the net, chanced upon a site that is providing the concrete skirting service – Duraskirt. What attracted me is the term “concrete skirting” as in where I stay, all skirting are concrete and thus we usually just call it skirting.

 

After some research over the net, I discovered that many of the residential houses in countries like USA are wooden base and thus the skirting is made of wood as well. Further research told me that there are many benefits in using the concrete skirting. Some of the prominent benefits of concrete skirting are: 

1. It keeps the floor warmer (during winter) and cooler (during summer).
2. It can last for years with little or no maintenance
3. It helps to keep out small animals like rodents
4. It’s termite proof etc.

This is just to share my findings and what I’ve learned on the topic (building structure) that is totally alien to me.

 

Cheers!



Euro 2012 Fever - Your Prediction?

The once every 4-years global sport tournament, Euro Cup (Euro 2012) has just started for about a week now. This year, the tournament is co-hosted in Poland and Ukraine. It has been gaining momentum around the world and the hot talking points during the tea/lunch breaks nowadays goes something like these:

"Have you watched the match last night(or early morning in some countries)?"

"What a lousy defence from xxxxx" 

"Draw again!?" etc...

So far, the first few matches of Euro 2012 were not the prettiest (or "exciting") ones to watch but they still manage to create enough buzz among the working adults. By the way, do you know that this is the last Euro Cup to have 16 competing teams (nationals)? From 2016 onwards, there will be 24 teams in the Euro Cup. In would means that there will be more matches, more sleepless nights in the upcoming tournament(s).

Being a soccer fan, I must admit that I did not follow the Euro 2012 as frequent as I like it to be. So far, I only managed to catch 2 live matches. Having said that, the tournament will usually get more excited after the group stage. So, it's time for me to stock-up my 3-in-1 coffee!

Talking about the world most beautify sport aka soccer, there are many lessons that we can learn from it. Three of my personal favourite are:

"Soccer is about team work and never about individual performance" (same thing applies in the corporate world)

"Defence is the our best attack" (we always need to take care of our back-line [foundation])

"The ball is round" (nothing is guarantee in the match, same thing happens to life)  

Are you following the Euro 2012? If yes, what is your prediction on which team to lift the cup on 1st Jul 2012? My prediction is GERMANY (even though I am an ENGLAND fan)!

Cheers!   

My Breakthrough Commitment! What's Yours?

Last weekend, I’ve attended a 2-days workshop entitled Black Belt 2, organized by my company, for all the managers within my section. From the name of the workshop, you will know there this is the part 2 of the workshop (I’ve attended Black Belt 1 some years back). It is a very intense and participative workshop which making use of numerous games to challenge the participants physically, mentally and emotionally.

The objective of the workshop is to guide through the participants to embrace the new cultural revolution of my company so that we can move from Excellence to Extra-ordinary. Objectives aside, I personally liked this type of workshop whereby each activity has its learning point(s) and we learned by participating in it (it is proven that we can learn and remember better through such workshop). Even though after the 2-days workshop, we were mentally, physically and emotionally challenged and personally need 11 hours of sleep to recuperate, it is still one of the most fun-filled and enriching workshop I’ve attended so far.

Besides, it allows us to have our own personal breakthrough i.e. doing the stuff that we might thought impossible initially or we would never thought of doing (if not because of the challenge given). A lot of out-of-the-box thinking and facing our own fears heads-on. For example, I would never think of myself being part of the flash mob event.

This post is not really about the workshop, it is about how we should constantly challenge ourselves to come out from our comfort zone and try something new (definition of breakthrough : doing something that you’ve never done before and it can be as small or as big an action/event that you deemed fit!). Actually, doing something new is necessary for growth. It is never too late to learn something new, especially with the advance of technology, learning curve has been shortened tremendously as you can practically find any knowledge, information over the web freely.

Thus, effective from this post, I am making a public breakthrough commitment as follows:
1. I will make at least one breakthrough [do something new] a week (that translates into 52 breakthroughs a year!).
2. I will do a monthly updates on this blog about the progress of these breakthrough (Stay tuned).

What kind of breakthrough have you done for the past one month? Do share them here.

Cheers!

SPECIAL : Unique online store - Supreme Kitchen And Bath Supplies

When comes to online store, most of us would think of big names like Amazon, eBay or Buy.com etc which provide a very wide selections of products (physical or e-products) to choose from. Of course, there are many other online store which provide special range of products which comes in many different models and price ranges.

I do find that such specialised online store do have its attractiveness as we can compare the prices and features of the similar products easily. Recently, I've chanced upon a unique online store that focuses on Kitchen and Bath Supplies. I was stunned with the wide range of bidet seat products that they carry online and the detailed  specifications of each product that provided in the site. 

Cheers!