Drool Blog #4: Pretty Food look-alike

Yes, I have skipped drool #3 for #4. No, it's not because I can't count. I guess I might enter a post-dated #3. Well, till then....

The eve of the GST hike seemed to be a season to be jolly.... ermm... I mean... jolly seasons where you hear more ka-chings, and see longer queues of happy shoppers in more and bigger shopping bag? Shoppers were more reluctant than ever to leave the mall even when the stores switches off the lights in the fitting room.

When we stepped into Vivocity, at close to half past 5, the LMMM quickly detected the huge crowd in the mall and suggested we either do a really early or really late dinner. It's really aint that early dinner as half past 5 is my dinner time on a normal workday. Sticking to it is almost a no-brainer.

We thus embarked to shop around for cafes without queues, and found this place called White Dog Cafe. As we browsed the menu at its entrance, the service guy stepped forward and said their "food is quite good" (quote & unquote) in all earnestness. Unwilling to be wet blanket to that earnestness, we decided to let the White Dog feed us...

Ambience suited for class gatherings, the place has a casual chic. It is also one of the place that serves water in bottles.

Fine, that's not something worth raving about.... but then again, if you'd compare to the snob restaurants who won't spare me a drip of the tap water when I am paying service charges... to see a bottle of water served without question was generous. And I liked that bottle feel. The now-defunct Dome at Wheelock was the first place I've had water served in those bottles. Guess it kinda brought back some memories.... and I have always thought it is the practice of casual italian to serve water in those bottles. ... not sure why, but it gave a comfy feeling.. whatever...

As usual, we decided not to overeat and ordered some appetizers, a main, and a dessert. We thus ordered a dish of Sauteed mushrooms, and Salmon & cheese bruschetta for appetizer. Duck Confit was the main dish (something different from the usual fish and chips, although it's suppose to be one of the chef's recommendations). And (regretfully) we chose Brownies Galore as desert over warm chocolate cake with vanilla ice-cream.

The food came pretty. Okay, not the four dollars mushrooms sauteed with garlic though. (No pictures for the mushrooms, cos they didn't come that pretty enough for us to take pretty pictures of it). Just use your imagination.

However, the taste of the food was a tad less promising than the look of it.

Salmon & Cheese Bruschetta ($7.90)

The salmon & cheese mushroom bruchetta had big slices of smoked salmon on bread, and olive oil dribbled on it. However, there was no traces of any cheese. The bruchetta also fail as bruchetta. It looked like.... ermmm.... confectionery bread that I take for breakfast.... (although they claimed it's whole-meal. I take cheap white bread.). The side salad would also do better without the lame thousand island dressing, but with (my fave) balsamic vinegratte.

Duck Confit ($19.90)

The Duck Confit was a tad hard at certain parts, and (not trying to mimick Zhang Ziyi) too salty. Wikipedia says that Confits are preserved meat in their own fats. That duck probably had high salt content in its fats. Overall, it was less palatable than it looks.

The Brownie Galore was the most disappointing. Personally, I feel that the food had been mis-named. It should be called Ice-cream Galore.

Brownie Galore ($10)

There were only litters of brownies below 4 scoopful of ice-creams. We felt that the name was a little unjustified and misleading. Nontheless, service-wise, the cafe do score some points. Dishes were promptly whisked off, and there was no need to remind to serve dessert even with the huge dinner crowd.

Food's not that fantastic for the palate, but I guess it's passable. Well, let's just say I might return again if we have a class outing or something, someday...

Address: No 1 HarbourFront Walk #02-131/132 Vivocity

The Nondescript Mind Dreamin' Distinct

We were shopping the busy Citilink on Saturday when Hong looked at the youngsters walking alongside and suddenly lamented that we are no longer in that stage of life where the future is ours. It's like.... you know, when we were still in school, green and sprouting, teachers would spell that the future is ours and painted promises of us being the up-and-coming generation that will have nothing stop our wonderful dreams from realising....

That's right. When we were...

Having barely passed the quarter century, it didn't seem that we fit the bill of being ancient. (shopping for anti-wrinkle creams not counting.) But even as we bat our eyelid on that same blink, it did not seem out to tell anyone of less years that the future is theirs. (I am sure that is what my peers who turned teachers are freely telling their little customers of terror now)

Regretedly though, I can't even say that I have been there or done there - wherever or whatever "there" is. Have I missed the dream? or have I not even even dreamt before time has passed me by?

Even as I considered having a go at another degree, I am caught dumb when my LMMM knocks on me the question on what I would want to do eventually. I'd wanted to give a smart answer, or say I'll do something some big somebody does. But ermmm.... I can only manage a shrug and a big dunno.

Well, perhaps my brains' probably too empty to dream any big dreams of any big somebody at the moment. But Malcom Forbes (yes, the Forbes Magazine guy) said that education is suppose to replace an empty mind with an open one. Going by that logic, I guess I now know the smart answer the next time I am asked that same question. That will be to ply my mind open bigger than any big somebody's, open to more options. If everyone is the same as the other someone else, won't that be too boring?

Ah well, let's just hope my old brain won't be too difficult to flex open, and time may wait for me to dream my unique dream of the future mine: that distinct someone who's nondescript... And of course, realise the unclassified distinction.

"Life would be infinitely happier if we could only be born at the age of eighty and gradually approach eighteen." ~ Mark Twain

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The people most difficult to work with...

While Yin thinks that the most difficult working environment is one where people are rude to one another, I think the worst environment to work with will be one infested with opportunists. As a matter of fact, I have been plagued by just one, and that was enough to drive me up the tallest wall imaginable. I am even willing to call myself ungracious in the face of dealing with The Opportunist. Really cannot imagine being in the company of more.

The Opportunist is lethal, and potently imbalanced. The Opportunist marvels at problems. No, they aren't perfect challenges for The Opportunist to drive solutions. Problems are best chances for The Opportunist to jump into bitchy email writing mode, copy everyone that can be thought of, and start the "it's your fault, her fault, his fault, and it's also ITS fault, (basically the whole wide world's fault). Please check all the problem, and revert to me (so that I can use them as blackmail chips). I am boss now (yeah... the self-deluded who still cannot find a footing in the next rung) because I am NOT (must highlight, bold & underline) the cause of the problem. And yes, I want to have what I want because my boss (whom I think is great cos she can let out loud shrills that resonates through rooms and is probably also capable of breaking windows) says that I am the control hub."

Bwahahaha...

Yea, right! Who can pay when the pocket's empty?

To think that any gains may be reaped from finger-pointing exercises, The Opportunist must be either down-right naive, or is a big-time laughable loser who had been highly repressed.

I'll opt for the latter. Who else would do sneaky things like block others in their messenger contact list, and in turn, run unidentified programs to check who blocked them? People who had some deviant virus, i guess...

Trust me, having one Opportunist is definitely enough to be more than a handful. It is almost asphyxiating. I can do without one. Really cannot imagine being in a company of more than that... drop dead.