Haze in Singapore and Malaysia - RT/ WW

Our World Tuesday

I was shocked when a couple of friends messaged me that Singapore National Environment Agency's three-hour Pollutant Standard Index (PSI) reading hit a record 400 on 20 June 2013. I was on a scheduled trip to Shenzhen and was fortunate to enjoy clear blue skies during that weekend.

The smoke from fires on the island of Sumatra, caused by "slash and burn" farming on or near vast palm oil plantations, has drifted across to Malaysia in recent days.

I tried to contact suppliers of N95 masks and air purifiers in Shenzhen but unfortunately, many factories were not opened on weekends.

Glad that I was able to purchase 10 pieces of N95 masks (S$27.50) at Guardian Pharmacy, Changi Airport as soon as I landed. The next day I bought enough masks for my extended family and help some Malaysian friends and relatives buy some too. NTUC sells 10 for S$22.50, the face masks are affordably priced to curb profiteering and to set benchmark prices.

One kind friend sold me a much sought-after air purifier  

N95 masks should be bought only when needed so that everyone who needs a face mask may be able to have one. Most of us don't need to use masks, unless we have medical conditions like asthma, or have to do strenuous work outdoors. Wearing a mask is recommended only when the PSI hits very unhealthy ranges (PSI > 200) and when prolonged and strenuous outdoor activity is unavoidable. If the PSI is above 300, you should minimize all outdoor exposure and wear an N95 mask if outdoor activity is unavoidable.

There are enough masks so please do not panic buy or hoard. Look out for one another, especially elderly Singaporeans and young kids. If any of them have respiratory problems, bring them to the clinic immediately.

The haze may have temporarily shifted up north due to a change of wind directions, I immediately went  shopping to stock up on fruits, vegetables, herbal soup packs and ingredients for cooling beverages. Surprised to find empty shelves when I wanted to buy green beans, barley and rock sugar.

Drinking green bean soup (绿豆汤) would help dispel internal heat, clear away toxins, promote urination and relieve hot weather ailments and rashes. Green beans are super-nutritious beans rich in protein, fibre, carbohydrates, calcium, phosphorus, iron, and vitamins.

So grateful that some friends are so kind to share their green beans, barley and rock sugar with me when they read my FB post.  :)

L'Atelier Singapour de Joël Robuchon - RT/WW

Our World Tuesday

As part of my RWS Invite Membership, I chose the dining option as hubby did not want the tickets to Universal Studios. -_-

I celebrated my birthday at L'Atelier Singapour de Joël Robuchon, a casual dining French restaurant opened in Singapore by well known French chef Joël Robuchon. He was the youngest chef ever at 38 years old to receive three Michelin stars for his first restaurant Jamin and being crowned Chef of the Century by the prestigious Guide Gault Millau. He has collected 26 Michelin stars worldwide for all his restaurants with 21 restaurants spanning 10 countries globally.

The restaurant is stylishly decorated in funky black and red. The service staff seated us at the counter table facing the kitchen so we could witness the chefs create, prepare and cook innovative dishes right before us.

Foie gras custard with red Porto wine and Parmesan foam

A delectable foie gras infused custard arrived with a basket of warm bread which was a promising start. It was delicious, we wish they had served a bigger portion :P

Veal carpaccio topped with a tuna sauce and served with crispy hearts of romaine

This is an elegant course with a savoury tuna sauce. The pretty pinkish meat was so tender. I cleaned up the plate spreading the yummy tuna sauce on crispy hard rolls. :P  

Sauteed John Dory, cilantro, green curry sauce

This green curry was not spicy at all. It was too diluted for my taste. The amazing sushi rice cubes gave me an idea, it would be fun to serve to my party guests.

French-style skirt steak with shallots confit

Although the food portions were small, I was beginning to feel full at this stage. The Angus steak was great. As hubby doesn't eat beef, the chef cooked a special dish of codfish for him. 

 L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon's fabulously yummy mashed potato

I absolutely fell in love with L'Atelier Singapour de Joël Robuchon's signature mashed potato!  It is rich and silky,  easily the finest I have ever eaten. I could eat this on its own, it's pure bliss on the tongue. My dear friend PY, who is looking for the most delicious mashed potato in Singapore, would love this. :)

Dessert was a creamy Araguani chocolate with cacao sorbert and oreo cookie, followed by our preferred hot beverage.

It was a fantastic meal that held many surprises for us. I would recommend this place to friends who do not mind paying for tasty innovative dishes. :)

L'Atelier Singapour de Joël Robuchon
Hotel Michael Level 1, 101/103 Resorts World Sentosa | 8 Sentosa Gateway, Sentosa Island

World Summit Gourmet Launches Inaugural Youth Chefs' Day - RT

Peter A Knipp, CEO of Peter Knipp Holdings Pte Ltd, the organiser of the award-winning World Gourmet Summit

Our World Tuesday

Today the World Summit Gourmet launches the inaugural Youth Chefs' Day, presented by Meat & Livestock Australia. Together with close to 300 F&B students (aged 15 to 25 years) from 5 leading Singapore culinary and tertiary institutions, I had the rare opportunity to pick up tricks of the trade from the world's best culinary experts.

Mr Ernst Huber, Awards Of Excellence 2013 Déliciae Lifetime Achievement Award winner

Mr Ernst Huber (age 65, Chairman of Huber's Butchery), shared his expertise on the Art of Butchery. He demonstrated how to make South German Sausages and an impressive Pork Belly Roll with sausage stuffing.

During coffee break, I had a chat with this passionate and inspiring gentleman. He then invited me to visit his butchery. Yay!

Executive Chef David Senia (Capella Singapore) is such a humorous and fun guy. The audience adore him as he kept them awake with his jokes. haha....

He demonstrated 3 cheese dishes which seemed easy to prepare. One recipe calls for goat cheese which I would like to taste for the first time.

Spain’s finest pastry chefs, Paco & Jacob Torreblanca

Paco Torreblanca - Best Master Pastry Chef of Spain (1988), Best Maser Pastry Chef of Europe (1990)

Having cooked for the Royalties of Spain, this father and son team shared their insights into the Evolution of the Patissier’s role in the Kitchen. Watching a video of their amazing creations, the audience's questions came thick and fast.

Executive Chef Jimi Tegerdine (age 30  years), LeVel 33

Executive Chef Jimi Tegerdine's seafood dishes consisting lobsters and prawns attracted a lot of attention. :P Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to try them. 

Jimi's from UK but he speaks with an Australian accent because he lived there for 8 years. During those years, he also picked up Japanese cooking.    

Three-Michelin-starred French Chef Yannick Alléno talked about The World of Flavours and Tastes, sharing his techniques to achieve the best cuisine.

Mr Olivier Bendel (CEO of Déliciae Hospitality Management) owns and manages eight concept restaurants in Singapore : L’Entrecôte, Sabio, 83, Forlino, Le Petit Cancale, &MADE by Bruno Ménard, La Cantine by Bruno Ménard and Sabio by the Sea. Olivier shared his journey to success.

Home grown talents Janice Wong (2am:lab,  Awards Of Excellence 2013 Classic Fine Foods Pastry Chef Of the Year) and Daniel Sia (The Disgruntled Chef) demonstrated an innovative dish of sweet and savoury dessert using vegetables.

Executive Chef Edmund Toh, President of Singapore Chefs Association taught us a basic Thai dressing which can be used  to create several dishes.  

I spent an interesting and fruitful day at the event. The speakers generously shared their knowledge with us. I skipped coffee breaks to pick the brains of these professionals and was reluctant to leave when it ended.   

Singapore's Largest Balloon Landscape - RT/WW

Our World Tuesday :

Singapore's Largest Balloon Landscape 2013

This carnival-themed balloon world featured a carousel, roller-coaster, octopus rides and more! An entire area in Marina Square Mall was transformed by renowned balloon sculptors and 26 others over 4 days into a fantastical sight using 44,488 balloons.

Tens of thousands of colourful balloons are used 

The balloon sculptors and their helpers started working on the balloon sculptures on Monday. The public was able to see the displays from 15 to 17 Mar 2013.

octopus ride

ferris wheel

roller-coaster

Cute little girl waiting patiently for her kitty balloon ....

Singapore's Largest Balloon Landscape is listed in the Singapore Book of Records.

Enhancing Employability In Singapore - Ruby Tuesday

During the Christmas holidays, several classmates from my ICDL (International Computer Driving Lesson) Certification Programme met for lunch. We have been keeping in touch with one another after the completion of the course.

One of our classmates Haslinda became the envy of the group. After completing the ICDL course, she signed up for more courses to upgrade herself. She was recently promoted to Administrative Executive in an interior design firm and received a 2-month performance bonus for the year.

Haslinda, a bubbly girl with numerous ear piercings and tattoos on both arms, would sit next to me during our 3-week computer course. During our chats, she revealed that she dropped out of secondary school as she was playful. She has worked at fast food restaurants, coffee houses and as a salesgirl, earning meagre hourly wages.

Although she is only 23, she is already a mother of 3 young kids and separated from her husband of 6 years. With 3 children to feed, she was finding it tough to work on shifts and make ends meet. She approached the Community Development Council (CDC) for help.

They found her a job as a receptionist at an interior design firm and also arranged for her to attended computer courses to upgrade her skills and enhanced her employability.

As Hasinda has only a Secondary 2 standard, I would often help her as she was struggling with the technical terms. She was determined to get her certificates, so she studied hard. She passed with flying colours. At the end of the course, her Boss was so pleased with her newly acquired skills that he gave her a raise and encouraged her to sign up for more relevant courses.

trainer teaching us Spreadsheet Function 

She is now earning a monthly salary of S$2000 including overtime pay, a far cry from her previous hourly-paid service crew jobs. Seeing how much Haslinda’s life has improved, we are happy for her.

Miniland@ LEGOLAND Malaysia, Exclusive Preview - Ruby Tuesday

The mini replica of Singapore Flyer - made entirely of LEGO bricks!

Days after visiting LEGOLAND Malaysia for a preview of this yet to be opened theme park, I am excitedly showing pictures of the beautiful LEGO models I took to friends and colleagues. Many couldn't believe that the models were made entirely from simple LEGO bricks.

Patrick De Maria, Miniland Project Lead at LEGOLAND and his team of designers are responsible for these incredible artworks. It took them a year to compile information about the region from online sources, guide books and by talking to locals.

For on-site research, LEGOLAND despatched  a team of designers to photograph buildings, roads and streets across Asia and to get a feel for the cities. The 3D design and production stage took over 2 years to complete.

Models built overseas were transported by air and sea for installation at LEGOLAND Malaysia. This process started 6 months ago and is expected to complete by mid-August 2012.

Built on a scale of 1:20 the first LEGOLAND in Asia will feature 17 countries and cities from around the region including Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Brunei, Myanmar, Philippines, Indonesia, China, India, Singapore, Johor Bahru and Kuala Lumpur. It has taken the team more than 3 years to complete.

The Petronas Twin Towers was built using half a million LEGO bricks. The models are so awesome and mimic the icon as closely as possible.

Visitors taking a closer look will be amazed by LEGO figures depicted to be working, strolling through the streets, eating at kopitiams, driving and undertaking other day to day activities.

Singapore Merlion

Among the best attractions in Miniland is the Singapore cluster, inspired by Singapore's most treasured landmarks, namely Singapore's Merlion, the Fullerton Hotel, and One Fullerton Pier, the Singapore Flyer, Maybank Building, Bank of China building, Riverside Point, 6 Battery Road.

I turned speechless looking at these familiar buildings. They are made from LEGO bricks!!

Riverside Point - so real!!

Beautiful replica of Clark Quay, the attention to details is simply amazing! Love the cute LEGO figures chilling out in the cafes. :P

The remarkable Wat Arun (Thailand) built with LEGO bricks!

Gosh, the Thai Royal Barge can be built with LEGO bricks! Incredible!

the Taj Mahal (India)

Miniland is just one of the 7 themed areas at LEGOLAND Malaysia that has been developed with education in mind. The whole of Miniland is also animated and guests can bring the models to life with a simple press of the buttons.

I am counting down to Opening Day which is on 15 September 2012.

Thanks to : .LEGOLAND Malaysia and Pelham Bell Pottinger Asia

Shaping Hainanese Chicken Rice Balls - RT

Before we had our traditional Hainanese lunch hosted by the Malacca Hainan Association, ladies from its Women's Wing demonstrated how to shape chicken rice balls. Besides the ladies who laboured in the kitchen to cook for us, there were also two grannies who sacrificed their Sunday morning bonding time with their families to teach us how to shape Hainanese chicken rice balls. So touched by their hospitality.

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What are these used for!?

These are the moulds to shape the chicken rice balls - designed by the ladies to handle the hot temperature of the rice. 

So smart!

Grandma showing us how to shape the chicken rice balls. First scoop the piping hot chicken rice with the moulds.

The air-conditioned hall was filled with the aroma of the piping hot chicken rice. The bloggers were drooling as they took photos. We couldn't wait to taste the aromatic chicken rice.  :P

Ooooh ooh ...... it was hot!!

We have to quickly shaped it into a round ball. The grains of rice must not be too loosely packed or else it would fall apart, also we should not compressed the grains of rice too tight.

We had fun shaping our own chicken rice balls. The ladies also prepared steam Hainanese chicken and a special chilli  sauce to go with the Hainanese chicken rice. What a feast we had!

No One Can Save Us Now! - RT

Melting Superman ....... No One Can Save Us Now

On our way to dinner one night,  we come across this cool large scale sculpture displayed on the front lawn of the Singapore Art Museum.

Initially we thought, "Oh dear, our hot weather in Singapore has caused it to melt!"

Upon careful inspection, we realised that it was created this way. This sculpture is fittingly entitled ‘No One Can Save Us Now’. It is created by Mojoko and Eric Foenander as part of the exhibition ‘The Singapore Show: Future Proof’. It took three people six weeks to create.

According to Mojoko, “it’s a comment on global warming. The fact that the superhero is melting gives us little hope for the future.”