A For Alex

There’s a new restaurant open in town called PS Cafe, an extension of the cafe attached to project shop blood brothers at Paragon… Various food blogs and the papers have been saying good things about it, and so Wen and I took advantage of our recent liberation from exam drudgery to have a look see.

The cafe is situated at Harding Road, which is off Holland Road, near Gleneagles and Tanglin Mall.  We were just commenting how the location is rather similar to that of Colbar, in that it’s surrounded by greenery and rather a drive in. We got a little "temporarily disoriented" as Wen would put it (I just call it lost) but it gave us the opportunity to suss out what else was in the neighbourhood. It was mainly a lot of antique shops and vacant army like buildings.

Well, anyway, about PS Cafe itself… It’s a very pretty place, with huge floor-to-ceiling windows that let you dine in aircon comfort, while taking in the greenery around. The place is done up in a rather chic yet homely style, with simple flowers at each table and chairs done up in different types of tweed. In addition to the dining area, they have a sofa chill out area done up in a similar style.

I enjoyed the meal, not only because of the great ambience, but also because of the food. PS Cafe has a pretty small menu, but everything has something special about it, justifying the higher prices (about $20 per item) by offering a meal that you couldn’t easily find somewhere else. It was interesting because I hadn’t previously had such a unique Western breakfast, beyond the straightforward continental breakfast or bacon and eggs.

I had the poached egg portobello stack, with grilled bacon, wilted spinach and baked creamy potatoes with smoked cheese. Mmm! I really liked the variety within that one plate, each item offering a different taste, coming together as a really satisfying breakfast.

Wen had the pork loaf with roasted fennel, green tatsoi, feta and pesto filled pepper dews in a prune and garlic dressing. It was good too… I especially liked the pepper dews, which looked like cherry tomatoes… They were filled with a creamy feta and pesto stuffing, which filled your mouth after you bit into the pepper. Really interesting.

The portions weren’t that big so we ordered a serving of PS fries, which I had heard people rave about… The fries which were crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside, came with 2 sauces, and the one worth mentioning is the kaffir aioli sauce which is a garlic mayonnaise with some spices in it. There’s a tang to the sauce that reminds you of lemongrass.

In all, it was a wonderful brunch at PS Cafe, because of the unique and interesting food, the view, the friendly staff and the laid back ambience. I guess we were lucky that it wasn’t crowded when we went at 11am on Sat, I definitely would brave the crowds and come and see how different it is at nights for dinner.

After many white-knuckle twists and turns, I’m finally confirmed and heading to Hong Kong with Wen Zheng. It’s going to be 4 days of overindulging in roast meat, tong shui and dan tarts, along with some sightseeing, walkies, hikes and shopping! wish that everyone that was supposed to come could have come… but there’s always next time. I love Hong Kong!

I get to exercise my vote, because for the first time in a long time, Ang Mo Kio GRC is going to be contested by the Worker’s Party… In an effort to make an informed choice as to which party to choose, I was googling the PAP members in the AMK contest, and found out that Mrs. Lee Bee Wah, one of the new PAP members has been coming to my estate to better understand the needs of my community.

Said Mrs Lee, "There are already some residents who came to see me. I have also gone down to the sites to really understand their problems. One of them is Teachers Estate, the transportation in the estate. They came to see me during one of the (Meet the People Sessions). I went down one Sunday morning to understand what they are trying to tell me — the steep slope, the long distance that the old folks have to walk if they want to take a bus to go to Yio Chu Kang. Now I am in the process of talking to SMRT and I hope I can help solve some of their problems."

I guess it’s pretty impressive that she bothered, considering that Teacher’s Estate has pretty low population density compared to a HDB block… so the ROTI (return on time invested) is probably lower. Hmm.. Will see. May 6th is Polling Day so got some more time to think about it. Heh heh. But if they can do something to improve transportation to Teacher’s Estate, I’m not complaining.

I must say that I’m taking much more interest in the Elections this time, not only because I get to exercise my vote, but also because I realise with greater consciousness that things that have direct relevance to me and my life are happening around, and it’s only being responsible to take interest in what’s going on. The recent dialogue session with MM Lee was interesting also, and 2 of the people on the panel were from my school. Got me and Auntie Em pretty riled up while we discussed (loudly) what was going on in the dialogue.. I’ve my $0.02 about the situation but if I understand correctly, it’s illegal to discuss politics on blogs. :p

woohoo! today i went for a jog up and down the whole stretch of bishan park, which may just have been the furthest i’ve ever run

i’m glad that i’ve been using my holidays productively so far, it’d be such a pity to look forward so much to having free time to myself and then squander it on naps and tv watching… there are things to learn like cantonese and knitting, trips abroad to plan, guitars to play, books to read, quiet time to do, t-shirts to buy online and so much more! i can’t wait till wen gets finished with exams then we can do stuff together… and also for the nus law peeps to be done so that we can eat buffet and celebrate nana’s birthday!! 22!! 

we went to explore somewhere new yesterday! we went to this pier/dam/divider across seletar reservoir, thinking that we would be in for a nice quiet stroll along the road, with the night view of the reservoir stretched out before us…. WELL. it was crowded! there were malay families chilling in the back of lorries, big groups of motorcycles, people barbecuing, others fishing, some with their dogs and portable cloth chairs, bunches of bengs with pounding techno music, what appeared to be a kia picanto club and even a travelling ice cream man! and all this at 11+pm… so, it was anything but quiet, but it was a nice stroll down the divider, which was so long that you couldn’t really see the end very clearly. the night time scene was rather pretty, if only you closed one eye to the petrochemical industry brightly lit at the perimeter of the reservoir.

i like how i’m constantly discovering a new side to singapore… just when you think you’ve seen everything there is, somewhere new pops up and makes you think that singapore is pretty unique after all. =)

gonna start teaching myself cantonese and how to knit
making memories of us by keith urban is playing in my head, ad infinitum
i need to work on my smoking skills, or at least how to ad lib
i can write really small if i have to
you only register that it’s the holidays when you can sleep in till 10am.

Should you tease friends and run the risk that they may take offence or not tease anyone at all and miss out on some laughs?

haha the exams are over, and so is my third year of uni…!

Just thought today how easy it is to get caught up in studying… If you hole yourself up at home or in the library and see nothing besides your books, your meals and the back of your eyelids, life can seem so one-track. And really, when I took breaks and looked around at people on the street, doing their own thing, I was reminded of how there’s more to life than studies, if you only allow yourself to remember and realise it. So all my friends with exams still on, study hard, but remember there’s more to life than just this!

I love You with all my heart
Trust You with all I have
For You hold the heavens and earth in Your hands

You died on the cross for me
Took all my sin and shame
Your name is holy, exalted above all else

Glorious Redeemer
You have paid for my life
You have gone before me
Now I’ll walk by Your side
I lift my hands to You Lord
You are worthy of my praise
Jesus reigns

Had my 2nd paper yesterday and when i reached home, somehow, despite my best efforts, i couldn’t muster up the momentum to study for my last 2 papers. Went for a run near my place and then date night! with black bean hor fun, sweet and sour pork, fish head soup and island creamery burnt caramel, reverso and teh tarik ice cream…. mmmm. then up to the 30th floor of a bishan hdb block for a view of night time singapore, and talked about snipers. (:

Quotable quote of the night, said after we used the tissue to wipe our mouths and then the table: "Wah, the tissue paper very lucky. Get to kiss you, then kiss me, then eat ice cream."