Fire Forty Six

You can’t rush Nature, but when you give it time to do its thing, the results can be quite delicious.

Early morning expedition to Shunfu Market for Hakka soon kueh

Food

November 24, 2021June 22, 2022 Alvin Lee

Late one night, as The Wife was scrolling through her Facebook feed, she noticed a friend’s photos of soon kueh that she had bought from Mei Zhen Hakka Delicacies (美珍客家美食) in Shunfu Market. I knew that the outcome was inevitable and pre-emptively said to her: “Gaja (가자)!” Which, as we all know, is Korean for “resistance is futile”.

I think I’m going to stop buying alcohol now

Drink
Learn

November 20, 2021January 22, 2024 Alvin Lee

To determine how bad the situation had gotten, I decided to do a one-off stock take of all the alcohol in our apartment and compile a complete inventory. It looks like we currently own 24 litres of alcohol.

Circle crop an image using Microsoft Paint 3D

Using Microsoft Paint 3D to circle crop an image

Others

November 17, 2021February 23, 2022 Alvin Lee

Here’s a step-by-step guide of how you can use Microsoft Paint 3D to crop any image to a circle shape.

Uncle Penyet and his smashed Indonesian food

Food

November 13, 2021June 17, 2022 Alvin Lee 4 comments

We’re fans of Indonesian food, especially nasi goreng and sate, but there’s something about having our food violently smashed that makes ayam penyet taste just that little bit more delicious.

Three sakes from three prefectures using three different types of rice

Drink

November 10, 2021February 23, 2022 Alvin Lee

Based on our preferences so far, it does seem like we have a bias for low SMV, high acidity sakes made with Yamadanishiki rice, though we haven’t sampled widely enough to make a strong judgement call yet. Likewise on the choice of prefectures, especially since there are so many in Japan.

Looks like we just have to keep drinking and comparing in order to gather enough samples to make a statistically significant decision. In moderation of course, and reasonably spaced out over time.

We finally tried the vadai from The Original Vadai

Food

November 6, 2021February 23, 2022 Alvin Lee

Every few months or so, before the pandemic, a small pasar malam would pop up in our neighbourhood. Whenever it does, we would get our regular fix of deep-fried Indian vadai, with a complimentary side of whole green chillies.

Nothing beats the Deepavali muruku made by our neighbour

Food

November 3, 2021February 23, 2022 Alvin Lee

Tomorrow is Deepavali, the Festival of Lights, and we know when it’s approaching when our Indian neighbour starts preparing the front of their apartment to draw their annual art piece. It’s also when we eagerly anticipate receiving our annual gift of their lovely homemade muruku.

Shalaby Sweets - Assorted Turkish sweets

The sinfully sweet Turkish sweets of Shalaby Sweets

Food

October 30, 2021September 30, 2022 Alvin Lee

After spending an enjoyable eternity comparing the relative merits of each dessert and picking and choosing, we ended up with a wide assortment of kunafa, baklava and Turkish delights, weighing a total of 500 grams. Here’s what we bought that day. Don’t they look just so pretty sitting on a large white plate?

Parallel Coffee - Three Panamanian Geshas beans

Three weeks of Panama Gesha beans from Finca Santa Teresa

Drink

October 27, 2021February 25, 2022 Alvin Lee

During a micro-lot auction held at the Singapore International Coffee Convention in July 2021, the highest bid of US$77 per kilogram was recorded for Gesha beans grown by Finca Santa Teresa in Panama.

After you factor in mark-ups for distribution, storage, roasting, packaging and retail, it’s not surprising that a bag of freshly-roasted beans can sell for upwards of S$40 per 250gm.