DarDar & I promised ourselves for a weekly trek at Bukit Timah Natural Reserve
Preparing for our Mt Kinabalu climb in May

Visited our usual secret pond
& we encountered a new species!

Found out that it's the Common Greenback Frog Rana erythraea

This ant here is as big as my pinkie!!!!

We exited Bukit Timah & headed to King's Albert Park

Along the way
We dropped by this new meat store - Huber's butchery to check out what they're selling
Another reason is to see if the boss' youngest handsome son is there or not *heehee*
Oh my dog
The meat they sell are soooooooooooooooooooooooooo fresh
Got beef, mutton, turkey, chicken & veal
Marinated or not
Other stuffs like wine, pasta, cheese, seafood, bread, etc
All imported from the Europe
The price is SURPRISINGLY affordable!

Oh next time
I'm so gonna bring Michelle there to shop for chops for our last-minute crazy BBQ meal

I bumped into Dr Vincent Yeow from my ex-work place
What a coincidence
& glad that he still remembers me =)

DarDar & I then had an idea of having Mexican food tonight
After we watched the 'Food Safari' on SCV #16 introducing Mexican food
LOL
So we bought 400g of minced beef
Which cost only $6.30
& 2 thick beef burger patty at $2.60 per piece
Just to satisfy his lust for Botak Jones' Botak burger (that with the extremely thick beef patty)

When we were to cook the minced beef for our burrito filling
It still looks damn red with some blood
Which is damn fucking fresh, according to DarDar

=D
I seriously do not mind the price for such fresh meat

Tortilla chips with guacamole sauce (I still prefer the fresh type)

Woooooooooooooo... yummy >_<

Consecutive nights of heavy meal
DarDar just love to spoil my diet plans
=(

Gastronomic Friday the 13th!

DarDar & I always have the weirdest habit of cooking dishes as introduced on TV
Tonight
We cooked 'Beer-ed crab'

It is a popular dish in one of the seafood restaurants at West Coast (opposite Haw Par Villa)
& the steps & ingredients are easy

We bought 3 huge mud crabs
1 tub of malt sugar (mai ya tang)
3 cans of beer

That's it!

My very own Chef Pang
who looks abit unpleased with me snapping him in his ugly 'Who has been naughty this year?' Woody Woodpecker T-shirt

Stir-fry crabs in garlic
Pour beer in & boil
About 70% cooked, add malt sugar
& then cover with lid to allow steaming
Serve when red

I tell you
This is totally yummy!
The beer taste was in the meat with the sweetness from the malt sugar
In fact I believe I was kinda drunk after 2 pincers
Coz I felt so sleepy after that

We then went to buy durians to ease mouth-itching
Wah
Crab + beer has always been the best combination
Now crab + beer + durian?
Even best-er!
I hope I wont fall sick with fever tomorrow

This dish is so worth it
Although the crabs are abit expensive
BUT
I bet it will still be cheaper than eating in that seafood restaurant

Let's see what is our next dish to try out...

Finally
I'm working on my slides for my confirmation
Darn lotsa things to put in!

DarDar & I were supposedly heading to gym in the morning
But we were too lazy to get up
& we only woke up around 11am

DarDar suggested we have lunch in JB
& there we went!

We headed to kim Gary HK Cafe in CitySquare
Ordered a hotplate steak set, baked spaghetti with beef steak & french fries with minced beef sauce
As we ate
We realised all our food is beef

We joined the Kim Gary membership as well
Given so many voucher
& we could use it on the spot
Our bill summed up to $54+
But we only paid $49 in the end

We were sooooooooo damn full after the meal
So much for my slim-down plan =(

Shopped around at the 4th level
Bought a pair of heeled wedge!
Had been looking for one everywhere but design was ugly
But I found one today finally!
Priced at $69.90
& after 20%
Only $59+

Hello
Please be reminded all prices are in Malaysian Ringgit

DarDar also bought a pair of slippers at $10
With cute little kangaroo prints on the sole

Mr Baoz finally opens!
& we bought 1 dozen of buns back
So nice ok!?

Had seen these on TV so many times in those Taiwan food shows
& I'm glad it's found somewhere near Singapore
It tastes very nice
What makes it special is that
The bun is not those usual bun we see in breadtalk/four leaves/xxx bread shops
It's made of those mantou or char siew bao bun!
The fillings are just right too
With the taste totally blended in with the sweet bun as you chew
Good!

Although it's abit over-priced (RM$39.90 for 12 buns, promotion at $29.95 now)
I think it's still worth a try
Given the popularity among most Taiwaneses

After a 3 hours lunch
We headed back SG
Traffic was so smooth that I think the time spent traveling is the same as traveling to Orchard

Same time spent
Different amount of money spent (due to currency exchange)

I enjoyed today

Nafe & I were chatting over MSN
Asking me where he can swim with dolphins
He rejected my simplest idea of heading to the Dolphin Lagoon in Sentosa
I found him this instead

I then told him I wanna go to Mantanani Island to swim with dugongs
Despite the fact that he is clueless what dugongs are

As we chatted further
I start to think
What are the purpose of us traveling this far to just 'play' with these animals in the wild?
What harm could we have cause by being there?

Eco-tourism had become very popular lately
With national parks mostly opened to the publics
Little does one actually understand the impacts that are present

With increased human traffic
Disturbances increases
Obviously, animals living in their serene environment would least love to listen to the consistent rustling sound of moving grass as everyone of us step on the ground
Neither do they wish to wake up in the middle of the night in fear of hungry predators, only to find curious humans looking at them with infra-red binoculars
Not forgetting that the tracks on the grassland expand
Leaving more boundaries across
Creating more edge effect

I then think
Would it be a good choice for me to visit the dugongs then?
Giving the fact that dugongs are so rare in the wild now
The more I should go & take a look at them
& also to swim with them

But
Have I think about the fact that if I'm one of the 1000 people to play with the dugongs
How much stress can that poor mammal take from all of us?
Assuming that everyone pet his head at least twice
Is it plenty enough to cause a brain concussion?
Would I be contributing to the human disturbances too?

One solution is
Do not go to Mantanani Island
& increase the headcount of visitors
It's like recycling
The less paper you use, the less trees being cut down

I'm not so sure about this
Being an ecologist analysing all these are sometimes not very happy
As much as I'd love to visit places with exotic animals
Just to see them in the wild before they go extinct
I'd be glad to exclaim that 'Hey, I'd seen that!'
However, sadly, I'd also be one of the millions causing the extinction

By then
All thanks to me

I think
Eco-tourism isnt a good thing to start off with
Provided that it's being very well-maintained with sustainability measures highly & strongly re-inforced
With absolutely no loop-holes

That
I will give it a try

Oh yeah
The show was this morning
The most slack show ever
Just sit there & no needa do cat-walks
Best!




Nice hair
But I clipped my fringe while back school
Luckily Prof said nothing about it
*Phew*

Today is so NOT my day

Had a hair styling session this morning
Was told to reach at 930am
Dilly-dally reached at 10am
Hair stylist only reached at 12pm
ZZZZZZZ
Wasted my time that I could have gone for my gym!

The hair stylist was so damn slow
Colour mixing based on instinct
Whatever

I started at 1pm
Ended at 7pm
Like, what the hell?
I was late for my night appointment!

Brisk-walked to the bus-stop
& suddenly
A yellow stuff splattered onto me
I looked down

WHAT THE FUCK!?
Thai chilli sauce?
Some ccb must be eating something at the overhead bridge when I passed by
The splat was so big
That it stained my t-shirt & skirt
& made me looked as if I am the one who stained myself like I have no idea how to eat properly!

Argh!

I was cursing & swearing non-stop

Everything's just so irritating today

Had to rush back to Singapore last night
Coz today
I need to assist teaching at Pasir Ris Park on Ecology

It was a super duper hot sunny day
Inaccurate weather forecast of saying it's cloudy!
Totally scorched all of us



DarDar accompanied me but he went fishing while I went for my classNow
I'm so damn tired
& sun-burnt
Bleah

I had been very busy
Was out in CJ for a week
& on Friday
I went back JB
Only for a half-day rest
Coz on Saturday
I had to grab some granite stones from my father-in-law's quarry site
Needed for my indoor experiement

I can now imagine what had happened to the quarry in Ubin before it is filled with rainwater...






Magnificent!

Singapore's nature
& me