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Being the 2nd year running since last year's inaugural Singapore F1 Grand Prix 2008 and with a struggling economy, the organisers had to whip up more then just fast cars. They managed to pull in Travis, Chaka Khan and Backstreet Boys for performances before and after the F1 races.

I was at the finals for this year's race with Walkabout tickets. The Walkabout tickets this year were restricted to Zone 4, largely the Padang. There were more fringe activities and performances compared to the 1st F1. The bad thing is, barricades were setup a distance away from the track fences, making viewing from the sides difficult. In fact, after a while, I was pretty contented to watch the action on the big screens. The good thing - I'm already on the Padang grounds and easily wiggled my way near to the front of the stage when Backstreet Boys took centre stage after Lewis Hamilton's unchallenged win.


The Backstreet Boys are now in their mid 30s and one member down. They still had some insane fans. This bunch of girls nearly burst my ear drums with their screams. The truth is... I as little as I knew about cars, I knew equally little on this 7 albums boy band. Sure there were a couple of sing alongs, but I'm really not a boy band kinda gal. After the previous night's F1 Rocks performance, I felt the performance by BSB dull. You'd imagine, they'd have a wider variety of music styles after being in the industry for so long.

The telecast of the live F1 Rocks 2009 performance broadcasted to over 180 countries. Definitely cool to relive the excitement, the thrills and some of the best music ever put on hi-definition film. Check out the sea of crowd! Crazy!


Beyoncé's "Crazy In Love"


Beyoncé's "Naughty Girl"


Black Eyed Peas's "Pump It"


Black Eyed Peas's "Boom Boom Pow"

Read:
F1 Rocks 2009: Beyoncé & Black Eyed Peas (BEP)

3 straight nights, 12 acts, 1 inaugural F1 ROCKS Concert! The F1 Rocks Singapore is the first in a series of multi-artist live events in conjunction with the F1 GP Motor Sport. Their formula to bring in the biggest names including Beyoncé Knowles, Black Eyed Peas (BEP), Jacky Chueng, A-Mei, Simple Minds and No Doubt drew in swamps of tourists.

It didn't take me too long to secure my ticket (at a hefty SGD$180) to the closing night upon hearing news that Beyoncé and BEP will rock Fort Canning Green on 26 September. It will be BEP's 4th performance (and I'm still beating myself for not attending their 'Monkey Business' Concert) and Beyoncé's 1ST!!! I've been a fan since her 'Dangerously In Love' album. The tickets became hot property later as they sold out long in advance. I was contemplating selling the tickets off on eBay at a profiting price to Wendy's stern protest! Then again, I wouldn't give up my chance to catch Beyoncé live! Nope...

Days drawing up to the concert, BEP and Beyoncé were on my MP3 playlist. And as we entered the grounds on concert day, we made sure we wiggled our way as far front to the stage as possible. We we off centre to the right a little but not more then 5 meters away from the stage. We were real close!


BEP blasted onto stage with Will.I.Am, Apl.de.ap, Taboo, and Fergie citing up the crowd. Hands were in the air, everyone was jumping, totally hyped. There was electric energy as the zillion volts speakers pounded away.

One of my little pleasures in life is enjoying a good slab of meat. A raw, bloody dripping piece of beef. Okay, not that blood oozing, but medium rare redness really delights me.

The moment I chanced upon the advert by BEDROCK on their new beef on the menu, an impressive TOMAHAWK rib bone steak as big as 2kg, my eyes grew big! I had to gather 4 carnivorous friends for this meat feast!








Whisky Sour and flat bread for starters

Upon entering the restaurant at Pan Pacific Suites, we were greeted to a nice cozy bar / cocktail section. To all whisky connoisseurs, Bedrock also presents the ultimate ‘Old Fashioned Experience’ - a classic whisky-based cocktail that traces back to the 19th Century. As the popular choice among trendy bars in New York, the Old Fashioned’s staying power has transcended generations. I was recommended a Whisky Sour, mixed with a 16 year old whisky from Ireland (I think...). The mix was fabulous and with a great taste to start the meal on a right note.

We started off with their nicely warmed flat bread that is accompanied with a fragrant garlic clove and butter. It is like garlic bread but in a deconstructed way. It was a welcoming deviation from the regular olive oil and balsamic vinegar combination. The bread is a worthy mention by itself - soft and fluffy.


1.7kg of TOMAHAWK

For the first time in Singapore, Bedrock Bar & Grill introduces the Tomahawk, an enormous piece of long bone ribeye steak - perhaps the biggest in Singapore. This slab of meat was only available on the restaurant’s grill menu since August. The 400-day grain-fed Wagyu Tomahawk from western Australia is typically a ribeye steak with a long rib bone and can range between 1.3kg to 2kg, depending on the size of the cut. The meat is cooked over a mesquite wood-fired grill abd served with 4 choices of sauces: Pinor Noir reduction, classic Béarnaise, hot whisky mustard sauce and the homemade Bedrock chilli oil.


The Carnivores!

I learnt a few things about beef that night from our dedicated waiter.

I surmise that even though a steak in its most basic form is simply a cooked piece of meat, there are many factors which will affect your level of enjoyment. It is whether the cattle was grass fed or grain fed, whether it is from Australia or US. Whether the meat was dry aged or wet aged, broiled, flambe, or grill over wood or charcoal. Whether it was left to rest after grilling or served immediately and whether it is served on a plain plate or a sizzling hotplate.

Dry aging is the process where the meat is left to hang for a period of time so that some decomposition of the meat starts. The aging process tenderizes the meat and increases its flavour. Protein that undergoes decomposition releases free glutamates (natural MSG) which increases its savoury flavour. This is why we have fish sauce, soy sauce, worchestershire sauce (Anchovies)and miso paste which are all proteins which have undergone some fermentation thus they are all sources of free glutamates. This was the traditional way cultures from all round the world flavour their food before some smart Japanese Scientist came up with Aji-no-moto.

Anyway, after the beef is aged, the outside of the whole block of meat would become grey and yucky, and this has to be trimmed off, which is why it is so much more expensive. The second part of the equation is of course, the cooking process. Once you get your hands on the very best US beef, you still need to know how to cook it properly.

I reserve this "dry aging" beef experience for another occasion.


Good fats with rockets

The TOMAHAWK was a fantastic piece of meat. So far, I stand firm that a good tasty piece of meat must contain a good amount of fats. Fats that melts in your mouth! But you wouldn't want to consume in with Sharon around...

I ended the night with a Frangelico (Hazelnut Liqueur) coffee. I am contented to find another place that does good mixes. They are increasingly hard to find these days. Wendy was introduced to Cherry Tobacco Rum. Not my type of drink as I don't do drugs.

More Bedrock TOMAHAWK Pictures

2 dead modems - R.I.P

Late last month there was a huge thunder storm. Howling winds, crashing rain and lots of lightning. It would have been a wonderful night for a deep sleep, but somewhere in the middle of the night, the electricity to my entire house tripped. I knew cause my UPS started beeping. I woke up to shut down my computer and ensure that the windows are properly shut. My parents also awoke from the commotion and brought electricity back to the house.

As clam was restored back in the morning, I discovered that my Motorola SBG1000i modem (all in one modem, wireless and router) didn't seem to connect online. Damn the lightning! But I was consoled thinking I still have the ORIGINAL Motorola SB4200 1st Gen Surfboard modem somewhere in the cupboard. It still looked good as new and I kept it for a faithful day like this. Similarly, upon plugging on the device, nothing worked. There was a signal, but I couldn't get online.

I called Starhub who did a remote test and confirmed that my Internet line was still good and arranged an appointment to get a technician down to check the line.

It turned out that indeed both modems lost their battle, one from extreme bad weather and the other from natural old age (or neglect). A replacement modem (SB5101i) cost me $99 and I finally picked up a Cisco Linksys N Unltra Range Plus (WRT160N) series Wireless Router at the Comex Fair for $99 (original retail at $149). The Linksys UFO design look good with my other black gadgets.

All in all, the bad thunderstorm cost me $198 plus a couple of anxiety attacks. The good news is - both the modem and router are now on my UPS. I should have known better from the start. Still my Motorola has served me well for the past 4 - 5 years. I have little to complain.

This would be an interesting watch. Tickets go on sale 27 September (in the states). I think it will be an instant sell out.

The film will also feature 3-D sequences and will include a retrospective of his career and interviews with friends and collaborators. Proceeds from the film will go to the Michael Jackson Family Trust. What's the Trust for again?!?! Like they are not already ripping enough $$$ from his death...

It was an unanimous decision that we opted to sell food at this year's St. Teresa Feast Day instead of the usual game stalls. We've been doing games stores EVERY year, we figured it will be a healthy change. Besides, all of us are wanna-be-chefs in our own ways!

Here's a sneak peek into what we're selling...
After carefully thinking through the food items we could sell, we decided on
1) Mike Lee's Burger (Mike's version of the famous Ramlee Burger)


Mike Lee's Burger - generous sized minced beef patty; topped with melted cheese, saluted wild mushrooms, pickles, sliced tomatoes, lettuces and choice of sauce toppings between sesame seed buns


At the deciding price of S$5, this burger is a steal! We all agreed a dash of BBQ sauce on the meat will bring out a tangy punch.

2) Nat's Corn Cup


My contribution to the food menu. We finally perfected making Corn Cup! It tasted so good we could eat it by itself!


The secret is in the type of corn we picked and of cause, Planta margarine.

It had to be Watties which retails per pack around S$4.50 for 500g. The NTUC brand really cannot make it. At 500g per pack of Watties, that makes only 4 - 5 cups of corn. We desperately need to find a cheaper source. A cup will be going at S$2.50 at the Fun Fair.

3) Annette's Cookies & Puffs
We had less luck with the Cookies and Puffs at the cook out. It started off with the walnuts getting burnt and then the inconsistent heat of the oven. We'll need to work on this a little more to get it right.

4) Jock's Cotton Candy & Pop Corn
Jock had prepared 3 colours of sugar for the cotton candy - purple, pink and green. I'm getting myself a purple stick on the fair day itself!

It was great effort on everyone's part, with Dennis supplying the kitchen, Terence jotting down the recipes and steps, and the in between Halo 3 shoot-out on Dennis' spanking new Xbox 360, which I died horribly at the hands of both Dennis and Mike.

See you at the fair!

More Feast Day Cook Out Pictures

While savoring our Ben & Jerry's Chunk Fest Ice-cream at the Marina Barrage, we chanced upon the Sustainable Singapore Gallery. The Sustainable Singapore Gallery (SSG) is an information and sensory extravaganza showcasing Singapore’s efforts towards environmental sustainability. There are six galleries, each sharing a unique aspect of Singapore’s sustainable story. The galleries featured fun interactive and innovative multimedia, bringing us through how a small country with limited resources meets the needs of a fast developing community in an environmentally-friendly manner.


Gallery 1 showcases the environmental challenges of today.

Central to this gallery is the “organic tree”. Illuminated by a play of three colours, it symbolises the uncertain state of our present environment.


On the left while entering the gallery is a feature wall made entirely from NEWater bottles.

NEWater, is ultra-clean water that has been treated with advanced membrane technologies to a very high standard. It marks an achievement in Singapore’s green efforts. Its stringent purification and treatment processes helps to ensure we enjoy a sustainable water supply as the recycled water can be reused many times over.


Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew's vision to clean up the waters of Singapore's river.

Rewinding back a few decades, Gallery 2 recounts the clean up of the Singapore and Kallang Rivers. In the 1970s, both rivers were like open sewers, choked with rubbish and emitting an unbearable stench. Learn how Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, as Prime Minister of Singapore then, challenged a nation and brought about irrevocable change. Through the clean-up spanning ten years, witness Singapore’s development from independence towards a mature city practicing environmental awareness.


This gallery did a great job with the reflections of mirrors and interactive sliding video panels, that featured year by year the major development of the changing face of the river clean up.


It's funny how Wendy and I are only 3 years apart and I have vivid recollection of this historic river clean up event in Singapore. I remembered the stench and muddy colour of the Singapore River waters and the machinery brought in to scoop up the rubbish. Wendy on the other only got to know of this 10 year clean up exercise at this exhibit.


Gallery 3 features the ABC - Active, Beautiful, Clean Waters programme, launched by PUB in 2007.


The exhibits allowed us to see the programme in action, as waterways throughout Singapore are revamped and beautified. We discover how these rejuvenated waters bring communities together and forge a common need to cherish this precious liquid.

I was more intrigued to find out the development of our waters and parks in the coming future. Hopefully with better park connectors, the cycling or jogging experience will be a better one. This strawberry looking boardwalk is in construction near Ming's place.


Gallery 4 details the intricate construction and operations of the barrage dam demonstrating how the Marina Barrage works.

There's a interesting demonstration when rain falls and water builds up behind the barrage. We see the model pumps at work and learn all about the three-fold benefits of the dam.

Around this gallery are also sketch drawings of the barrage.


In Gallery 5, we get acquainted with Singapore’s careful planning and management of its limited land area to maximise its potential.

The sustainable development story unfolds in five chapters featuring different Singapore locations - Central Business District, Punggol 21+, Semakau Landfill, Jurong Island and Central Catchment.


This is my favourite gallery as the interaction of the different planning is featured right beneath your feet!


Gallery 6 displays an unwavering commitment from the 3P (People, Private and Public) sectors to care for the environment and water.

I've seen this display of interactivity where a captured screen of yours will be featured on a different screen super-imposed with a message back in 2006 at the Intelligent Nation 2015 (iN2015) Innovation Singapore Exhibit.

I have to confess that this is one of the most beautiful exhibition galleries in Singapore. The message is well thought off and presented in a way both children and adults will enjoy.

More Sustainable Singapore Gallery Pictures
More Ben & Jerry's Chunk Fest 2009 Pictures

Read:
Intelligent Nation 2015 (iN2015) Innovation Singapore Exhibit.

You know you had too much of a good thing when you cannot down another spoonful of your most favourite ice-cream. And you'd know I REALLY like Ben & Jerry's when I'm not even a desserts gal.

Ben & Jerry's Chunk Fest was back for a hippie good time - 2nd year running. Together with Ming and Wendy, we had to troop over to Marina Barrage to indulge in the 12 exclusive ice-cream flavours brought in especially for Chunk Fest.


Digging into our Ben & Jerry's :P

Oatmeal Cookie Chunk – My favourite pick of the lot
Sweet Cream Cinnamon Ice Cream with Chunks of Oatmeal Cookies & Fudge
Imagine smooth cold cinnamon cream scrumptiously frozen, with generous swirls of oatmeal cookies and fudge chunks.

Chocolate Fudge Brownie
Thick chocolate Low with Fudge Brownies
Delivers every chocolaty goodness for the body and soul...

Vanilla Chocolate Chunk –
French vanilla ice cream loaded with chunks of pure dark chocolate wonder.

Orange & Cream –
Orange sorbet swirled with Vanilla ice cream
Lacks the citrus burst we were all hoping for.


Other kaleidoscope activities at the festival. Unfortunately the stage, sound system and bands were less then entertaining...


Before we headed away from the fair grounds, largely also due to the increasingly uncomfortable haze, we had to lay our hands on the Berry Berry Extraordinary.

Berry Berry Extraordinary –
Swirls of Blueberry Fruit Sorbet and Raspberry Fruit Sorbet
This groovy concoction simply sends you for a trip to berry heaven on earth.

Unfortunately, the ice-creams all melted way too fast under the warm weather and the inconsistent fridge temperature due to the frequent opening and closing. It made the ice-cream experience less enjoyable.

Adding to the ice-cream mania, I had another round of outrageous ice-cream pig out at Swenson's ION ice-cream buffet on Sunday. Which clever ass in the universe ever came out with an ICE-CREAM BUFFET! The high sugar content in the ice-cream fills you up so quickly. Considering I already had so much Ben & Jerry's the day before, I had to really convince myself surveying the buffet counter twice before committing. In addition, there were 6 of us, and it wouldn't make sense for Jerome to have to pay the full 1-for-1 price if I didn't take up the buffet.

It was a sugar rush over kill, with a spread of 50 ice-cream choices, chocolate fondue (strawberries, marshmallows...), brownies & cakes, freshly baked waffles (that was really yummy) and huge selection of toppings. For S$11 bucks, I left with a higher chance of getting a tooth decay!

More Ben & Jerry's Chunk Fest 2009 Pictures

Read:
Sustainable Singapore Gallery at the Marina Barrage

The first batch of students at the Stamford American International School (SAIS) started class late last month.

Is this why the remotely located Jules Australian restaurant is running full house daily?!?!

Read:
Stamford American International School 2011

The opening of the additional 11 Circle Line stations in the first half of 2010 is something I'm really looking forward to. The stretch of stations, from Paya Lebar Road to Dhoby Ghaut via Mountbatten and Suntec will open interesting stations like Stadium, Promenade, Esplanade and Bras Basah. The most important station however is Paya Lebar Interchange, linking the eastern tracks of the East-West Line to the North-East Line. Traveling to the east will soon become a breeze.

The remaining 13 stations, from Marymount to HarbourFront, will open in 2011.

Read:
5 Stations on SMRT's Circle Line to open in May 2009
Traveling in the Near Future

21st Birthdays comes once and never again; and for Dav, her mom arranged to celebrate her special day at Seletar Airbase! She insisted that transport be arranged for every guest going and for a valid reason - the restaurant, Sunset Grill and Pub is deeply hidden in Piccadilly Road, at the tail end where Singapore Flying Club is located. "Nostalgic" is a nice word to describe the route, "Wu-Lu" is a negative. It is impossible to get there without a vehicle.

We arrived near the twilight hour of sunset. The place was beautiful in tones of orange. The restaurant, which I heard had been there for ages has a laid back alfresco dinning set up. A little run down, but with an unique old charm. Upon settling down, we were quickly told about the house specials - HOT BUFFALO WINGS, starting from Level 0 all the way to Level 30!


Seletar Airbase Sunset Grill and Pub Specialty - Buffalo Wings. The secret is in the sauce on the chicken skin

The highest level on the menu is 10. I've heard Wendy and Ming rave about their wings numerous times. Apparently if anyone can complete a Level 30 wing completely, they will be issued with a certificate and have their name written on the halls of fame for a month!

Jerome (he of cause being Indian and didn't want to bring down the spiciness of his race) joined me in going up the scale from Level 3 and then 5. The wings were Peri Peri (Mexican) hot, but not unbearable. If I could survive Chongqing's "Ma La", I certainly could take hotter. After being disappointed with Level 5, Jerome, Mike and myself decided to jump straight for LEVEL 10!!!


Mike getting ready for the Level 10 wings!

The Level 10 hotness started off mild. Hot but acceptable. Then after 3 mins... like a bolt of FIERY chili blast, the spiciness hit the back of the throat causing an uncomfortable burning sensation! Before we knew it, we were puffing hot breaths and drinking down lots of water. Jerome was swallowing melted cheese from the nachos to cool down!


MUST WATCH: Jerome's attempt at Level 10

Mike was the "hottest" guy amongst all of us. He cleaned up the bones nicely. The Chinese guy beat the Indian and Indon hands down! The wings certainly gave us a kick, but what it over powered in hottest, it lacked in taste. Which was a far cry from the "Ma La" dishes in Chongqing, that despite being mouth numbing, still presented lots of flavour. These wings were just super hot.


Happy Birthday Dav!

For a Wednesday night, the place was packed! With it's remote location and rather mediocre food, the place though interestingly different is definitely over rated. But as much as we had fun challenging ourselves to the wings' levels, the best fun was still the celebration amongst friends.

More Davinia's 21st Birthday Pictures

Bintan Club Med Flying Trapeze Stunt
I'd say not bad for the 1st time on the Flying Trapeze :)

I haven't attended many (make that ANY) film festivals this year. Not even the annual Singapore International Film Festival (SIFF) in April which I would gladly loose sleep over. I was scheduled to make my trip to Chongqing and Chengdu during that period which was delayed due to the unrest near the Tibetan borders. Perhaps also cause nothing in the film line up really jumped at me. I'm starting to feel that now with more country specific Film Festivals, SIFF might be loosing it's appeal on me.

So far, it's been a rather dull year at the movies for me. Thus far, besides Danny Boyle's "Slumdog Millionaire"; nothing really excited me till Pixar's "Up" came along. I enjoyed J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek", but I'm a Trek fan... so it doesn't quite count and the mega block busters just didn't quite cut it for me.

The Japanese Film Festival 2009 end of last month presented an audacious selection of some of the finest in Japanese horror, mystery and supernatural. The compact lineup were designed to intrigue, shock and arrest. The films were suppose to present Japanese supremacy in the spine-chilling genres.

It was a short festival with paid screenings over just one weekend, which happened to be the Alpha weekend. But I was so intrigued with the film selection that I had to catch something.



I picked Sion Sono's "Strange Circus" with Wendy, a disturbing tale about incest, imprisonment, secret transsexuality and mixed identities. The audiences were brought through a beautifully shot cinematic ride with a twist in how the director led us to believe in the reversal of roles between the adolescent Mitsuko and her mother. But as much as the film started out well, the over the top psychotic ending left me feeling the film could have more impact if it preserved more realism.



Another film which I really wanted to catch at the festival was Akio Jissoji's "Rampo Noir", a film consisting of 4 stories by Japanese author, Tarō Hirai or better known Edogawa Rampo (a transliteration of Edgar Allan Poe). I manged to get a copy of the film which saw me and Wendy continuing our Jap Horror Fest a week after. The 4 stories were "Mars Canal", "Mirror Hell", "The Caterpillar" and "Crawling Bugs". Of which, I felt "Mirror Hell" had the most beautifully shot scenes, "The Caterpillar" being critically, the favourite story and "Crawling Bugs" the most artistic. Everything thing about the film was ridiculous, strange and leaves you going WTH! We figured we would have left totally dumb founded if we had caught the film at the National Museum cinema. We had to compare this to Takashi Miike's "Gozu", which in our opinion, holds the top spot for most DUH film.



It was a double bill night, so we also caught Sion Sono's most successful film to date, "Suicide Circle" a disturbing thriller about Japan's incredibly high suicide rate. The film became a major commercial hit in Japan and was also played in many film festivals winning numerous awards. "Suicide Circle's" opening scene, shocking and extreme, made it famous around the independent horror fanbase, becoming a cult movie, and as a result it was the first Sion Sono movie to get an official DVD release in the West. This made him a popular director in the J-Horror English-speaking community.

The film had a lot of potential. Underneath all the suicide mayhem, blood and gore; I really wanted an in depth understanding of the life of those who decided to take their lives, those who cared enough about them and those who decided otherwise. Even the detective uncovering the case could have more meat. I loved how the child J-Pop group - Dessert, does song and dance nos. which provided insight into the situation or character. Their innocence is creepy in it's own way. A little more character development would have taken the film a long long way.

My new keychain and a fantastic way to release stress. A new toy I picked up at the Singapore Toy, Games & Comic Convention 2009. Who can resist squeezing these Edamame beans.

Edamame are baby soybeans, picked before they blossom into adulthood, and boiled. Edamame are also delicious and fun to pop out of their pods. Each Japanese Popping Edamame Keychain has three beans. The end beans are small and immature. The middle bean, however, has one of few random faces printed on it.


There are as many as 12 different "surprise" faces in the centre pea. I got the happy smiley face



When it was first released in Japan last year, they were the snapped up everywhere. Another success story of a highly addictive, silly Japanese toy.