Author Archives: chuletz

Inagiku (Singapore) – Mother’s Day

17 Sunday May 2009

Posted by in Gastronomy, Oversea Restaurants, Singapore, Travel

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Chulet and Chu-mama just got back from a trip to Singapore. We were there for 4 Days 3 Nights. It was mainly as a little getaway for Chu-mama as she whines that it was AGES since she last go to Singapore. Since, chulet needs to be there for business meeting, I thought it will be great to kill 2 birds with one stone.. ;op

We stayed at the Fairmont hotel (previously known as Raffles plaza). I always love this hotel. The service there is always efficient… The rooms are clean and the BED !! oh my.. oh my.. the bed sheet are amazingly soft.. with 4 GIANT duck feather pillow to rest your head upon. (sighh.. simply blissfull). The cost of the rooms also includes the complimentary gym and spa access. hehee.. unfortunately, for this round, we decided to skip the spa and head straight for SHOPPING and more shopping !! hahhaa..

On Mother’s Day, we decided to try Inagiku. It is considered as one of Singapore’s premier Japanese restaurant. I am happy to say that the Food and Service was SUPERB ! Since we were not very hungry, we decided to order one Set to try.  The damage? About SGD 400+ (inc tax and etc.)

Salad + Shasimi

The meal start of with some cripsy salad and sashimi. The cut was good and fresh.

foie gras

follow by, pan seared foie gras. It was perfection !! Melts in mouth….Definitely an A+ in my books!!! It sits on top of some oyster mushroom and drizzled with sweeten balsamic reduction sauce (which I so ADORE !! ). It will be great if they actually furnish me with some freshly baked baguette.  That would have been perfect-o.

Lobster !!!! with Cheese

The next meal on the menu is Lobster in Cheese !!! eeekkk…OOOHH my my my.. this was definitely the STAR of the meal. The cheese was light in taste and doesn’t overpower the lobster’s taste. The Lobster was georgously FRESH and cook just right !! Interestingly, the fish roe actually balance the whole cheese taste and helps to sort of cleanse my taste bud before taking in another bite of the lobster. Chu-mama and chulet was sp happy licking up all the cheese and YES – we were very reluctant to surrender our plate when the waitress come and clear them. (BTW, they not only change our plate for every meal, the PLATES are all different !! )

Beef steak The beef steak arrived to our table immediately after the clear off our lobster. It was cooked just the way I love it. Medium Rare (Asia standard) / Medium (European standard)… For from reason, whenever I asked for Medium in Asia country, it always turns out Well-done (in my opinion). Beef just gets tough and that special taste is not there anymore… The only reservation I have for this is the layer of FAT slab right in the middle of the meat.. If I recall, it was suppose to be Wagyu. Personally, I was a little suprise to see that slab of Fat as all the Wagyu I had thus far are all well-marbled. Nevertheless, it was OK.

Japanese Melon

For Dessert, they serve us the Japanese Melon (Premium Cantalope) ! As your can see from the picture, the meat of the fruit looks slightly crystal-like and it was also transparent. The Japanese are known to pays tons and tons of money to enjoy this fruit. The record in 2008 was 2.5Million yen (RM 93.5k / USD 26.3k) for 2 Yubari (little town in Hokaiddo – northern side of Japan).  Imagine that !!! this would mean that ONE of those melon is about USD 13,000 !!!! WOW…The good news was due to the current recession, this years auction for these melons are at 500k Japanese Yen (USD 5k), bringing it to about USD 2.5k per melon… shocking eh? ;oP

The taste was definitely totally different compare to our everyday-average melon. The meat was exceptionally juicy and the sweetness was amazing. It was not TOO sweet (like sugar) but it was a very refreshing kind of sweetness.

It was serve with coconut ice-cream which I tot was very clever as any other types of flavour would have make our taste bud so complicated that we will not be able to pick-up the melon’s taste after that..

Overall, It was definitely AN experience I would LOVEEEEE to repeat…

Pig Flu – H1N1

05 Tuesday May 2009

Posted by in Everything else..., Medication

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The whole world recently turn their focus to the new Influenza A virus, or also known as the Swine Influenza Virus (SIV). The first case of this virus actually happened in late March.  But, the whole thing is said to be under control and outbreak is wanning. Since there was no solid evidence that the virus was from pigs, Chulet is not even sure why everyone still call it Swine Flu… Currently, it is only confirmed that the virus is spreading from human-to-human type.

However, there are some experts who raise some concern that the ‘flu-season’ (Probably they mean winter – where flu is quite a common thing) is coming soon and they are worry the new virus might merge with the common flu to became a migthier virus. (Not really sure where I read it already… )

Chulet was very interested about this as she will need to travel to the States in June. Instead of worrying about it, the best thing to do is to keep myself educated about this virus.

Some of the interesting pointers Chulet got from online / newspapers / emails are

1) Remember to wash your hand with soap often and each time you should try to wash them for at least 20 seconds. Chulet’s bf made a valid comment about washing the TAP too. I mean, it will definitely defeat the purpose if your hands are clean but then you infected them again when you turn off the tap. (From some reports I read, it was mentioned that this virus can actually live outside the body on surfaces for up to 3 days)

2) Cover your mouth and nose when you cough or sneeze with tissues. Remember to dispose of the tissue properly after that. (Again – remember to wash your hand after that)

3) DON”T touch your face with your hands / fingers… (this means NO nose picking !! rubbing your eyes, biting on your nails ! and etc..)

4) Try not to touch at things in public places (bus station, train station, library, parks, playground and etc..)

5) Bring along alcohol hand sanitizer wherever you go. (And perhaps also baby wipes to clean the area a little before you sit or eat in public places)

6) Wear nose and mouth mask… (Never like this – make breathing really inconvinient)

7) SEE the doctor immediately if you are feeling feverish, having sore throat, runny nose, cough, muscle pain, severe headache, chill, nausea or if you are vomitting.

8) Might be a good idea to get 1 box of Tamiflu (only if you NEED to travel to countries with confirmed infected case). Try not to stockpile them as this will means that you are taking away medication supply from people who will really need it. 1 box of Tamiflu consists of 10 capsules, which you are suppose to take 2 times a day IF and IF you are showing signs of the influenza. Again, the medication should be taken at the early stage of the influenza to stop the progression of the virus.  Personally, I would recommend you to only take it IF you have no immediate access to clinic / hospital when you are experiencing the influenza symptoms.

Chulet pray that everyone will keep healthy and safe during these time.

Intense Pulse Light (IPL) treatment -__-

04 Monday May 2009

Posted by in Everything else..., Medical related

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Chulet has always been fascinated with the permanent hair removal possibility !!

Think about it .. No more tweezing, No more waxing !! No MORE hairy ..erm.. parts.

Fortunately, chulet is not very very hairy. But then there are certain occasion / functions whereby it will be required that I undergo the torture of being waxed. I am thankful that I am not as hairy as some. When I was watching Sex in the City, there was one scene where Harry went for waxing for his beloved. The pain when I hear the loud ripping sound… brr.. Those who wax, will know.

So, you would understand why the thought of permanently removing it sounds heavenly.. ;oP

Chulet also is very very scare of pain.. sob sob. When I was young, chulet had to go for some injection thingy. Chulet scream and cry so loud that the some of the people at the waiting room actually jumped out from the chair (according to the nurse – who know my mom very well) anyway, getting back to IPL..

Several years back, many of chulet’s friend went for Laser treatment and some of them came back with feedback that it is only little pain..

Chulet : HOW Little?

Friend : aiyah.. very very little.. just a quick prick.

Chulet : what you mean by prick? like needle prick? O__O

Friend : well.. more like ant bites.

Chulet : ANT ?? Red ant or black??

Friend : (roll their eyes)

Anyway, the point is I am really scare of pain and I HATE pain. So, I decided not to take the risk..

Recently, a good friend introduce chulet to IPL. (well, it was not really like introduce but sort of like throw into it). The friend was doing the IPL treatment and I was suppose to meet this friend there after my hair-cut. When I was there in the ‘clinic’, the lady there educate me about IPL. Somemore she throw in a free ‘one shot’ trial for me. She claim that it is PAIN-less… WOW…. no pain le.. Chulet is super interested already.

So, Chulet obediently  follow the nice lady to the room. The lady started explaining that she will first roll on some cold thingy on me before she zap one shot onto me. After zapping, she ask me if I feel anything. Truthfully, there was no pain !! I didn’t feel anything. probably numb from the cold. After that, she smile at me and ask if I want to do the whole area.. (chulet thought about it…for like 5 second) and nod my head.

The lady happily zapped away. .. zap.. zapp.. Zap… still not pain !

The whole process lasted for like 5 – 10 minutes and it was done. (huh? so fast?) After that, I was told to come back in for another 6 sessions, (1 month apart)

The result from only one session seems like it is starting to work.. (Happy happy..)

Can’t wait for the second session….