please, get out of my elite uncaring face

for posterity - especially since i share the same alma mater as a certain ms wee, aka, ms "please, get out of my elite uncaring face".

and singapore asks me why i stopped loving her.

there was once, a long time ago, when i took pappies' words for real. time in the raffles schools do insulate one from the harsher climates outside (though there was, and still is, no lack of schoolmates trying to show the rest of us the follies of our ways - in retrospect i note the sheer sedetiousness and alternative-ness of many of drama feste plays). guess i just didn't open my eyes wide enough then.

i never thought that i was "elite", and would abhor from using the word to describe myself, even obliquely, or as a joke, though i was from a even more "privileged" subset in school. seeing classmates who do supremely well in exams after assumed months of play does wonders in deflating your ego. i guess my family background helped too, since i was not born into singapore royalty, but am "merely" the son of a blue-collared worker.

i had favoured the pappies then - all the way until the ripe old age of twenty. i remember siding with pappie during an "argument" against a now-famous blogger after dinner at pierside (this was when i was just about to be out of the army?), though the actual arguments are now hazy. this was before i found out that he got royally screwed by our lovely, uncaring bureaucracy, during one of the worst times for anyone to go through such anguish.

perhaps it was him who sowed the seeds of discontent in my head? i can't remember for sure now. truth be told, i can't even pinpoint any particular event, or series of events, that led me to this jaded view that i currently hold of our dear pappies.

perhaps it is their continuous denial of a large part of myself, a part that sees the light of day mostly when i escape from this sunny island inhabited by four million smiles, that slowly fed my bitterness.

or perhaps when one grows up, and starts seeing nuances of grey, does one see the chilling similarities between vote-buying and lift-upgrading.

or perhaps when scholar friends bitch about their bonds does my respect for the civil service die.

or perhaps when our 140th masturbates itself into illusionment even as it sinks further to the 146th.

and now this. dear father of ms wee, you truly deserve the sticks up your rear. for even if your daughter does not, you, of all people, should know better. we do not give you money to wantonly defecate in our backyard. and ms wee, do grow up - you are, after all, smart enough to have made it into the humanities programme; surely you should be able to fathom the power of the pen.

i take pride now in my growing conviction to be a "quitter", to quote a term by someone who has overstayed his welcome in the parliament. sure, other countries may be just as nonsensical, but perhaps they don't slowly kill their citizens with empty rhetoric and whitewashed facades.

i do not need a parent whose love is conditional.

notable eats (17th to 30th september)

1. pasta brava - with j, dw, jo, yv, ck, dk

fried calamari - suitably crunchy yet lightly battered skin, and chewy yet not tough insides. nicely spiced with herbs and pepper,with a dash of fresh lemon juice. pretty good. with a sad-looking lettuce leaf (presentation, guys!)

caprese salad - the classic combination of morzarella, tomato, basil and olive oil, has become quite a firm favourite; exquisite when tomatoes are freshly at their peak. not bad; tomatoes could be sweeter (though i'd never really had outstanding tomatoes in singapore). personally, the caprese in paris at le reminet remains the one to beat.

parpadelle with duck in red-wine tomato sauce - not bad (i.e. pasta al dente, not over or under-sauced, duck was not tough), but no sparks for me, unlike pastas i've had at da paolo. maybe a cream or oil-based pasta would do the trick - i think i have no affinity for tomato bases.

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2. 翡翠澳门茶餐厅 - with j

法国土司 - what is it with a simple piece of fried toast, a thick slab of butter and maple syrup that is so magical? a sinful delight.



fried calamari - quite good; very asian-y, since it came topped with chopped spring onion, onion, fresh chilli. there could be a hint of white pepper - memory lapse.

鲕梨果奶希 - a bit too thick, and too cold for optimum taste. still, it was very creamy, and not at all icy. could work if i didn't also have the french toast.

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3. kazu - with j, d, e, dl,

枝豆 - good, though not the freshest. found out later that there was a 新枝豆 version available. should have gone with that.

えいひれ - dried stingray. tastes like dried cuttlefish, but with an additional smoky flavour (since the stingray was probably dried by way of smoking). interesting texture: chewy and not rubbery.

鮟肝ポン酢 - angler fish liver in vinegar sauce. good, but not at its peak; the liver was not as firm and creamy as if one had it during the winter months. still, there was good balance of the fishy liver, sharp vinegar and slightly spicy roe (tobiko?). yummy.

鳥刺身 - chicken sashimi. this was a trio of items: two different cut of chicken meat, and liver. can't remember the difference between the two cuts of meat; but both were good - texture like raw fish but tastes like chicken (duh!). the liver was surprisingly not as liver-y as expected - a sign of freshness, perhaps? only d and i dare eat this dish - more for us.



変わり豆腐 - daily special tofu. this was a pumpkin tofu topped with barbecued uni and wasabi leaves (?). texture was more like a firm pudding than tofu; don't quite care for pumpkin. uni was nice though; and i got a good serving of it since the rest, save for d, couldn't quite stomach the taste of uni.

and from the grill:

和牛 - excellent, as usual. the fatty meat literally melted in the mouth, its flavour enhanced by the grill and a sprinkling of black pepper.

アスパラ豚巻 - another must-have, though asparagus is definitely out-of-season; not as fresh and juicy as if one has it during the spring / summer months.

foie gras - nice and oily. mmmm.

鮭白子 - salmon milt. aka salmon sperm. heh. texture is akin to raw liver: i.e. creamy. and it kinda tastes like the sea, in a clean way. in comparison, much as assertive than uni. with a ponzu sauce, and topped with tobiko. quite delightful.

銀鱈 - not my favourite way of preparation for cod; my preference is for it to be pan-seared a la ember, or done みそずけ. the texture was fine, though.

帆立貝 - ok i guess, the scallops were certainly fresh enough. just that it was a bit plain. after all the wonderfully oily stuff, it's a bit of an anticlimax.

黒豚 - not as good as before, the meat was tending on the dry side. pales in comparison to the wagyu.

there was a funny little piece of cutlery which we determined was used to push the grilled items off the stick. it was a fork that was kinda shaped like a fox - the two tines formed the ears. and there was a 5mm hole which served the aforementioned purpose - this was the tail part of the fox.

could have missed out one or two items - really had a lot of sticks that night.