Watching Dr. No (1962) now. Starting to watch everything in order now. No point watching the beginning of the story, Casino Royale if I don't know where it leads. Not bad, but it is quite funny seeing some of the old video effects they used then. Hey, Sean Connery is damn handsome. Yes, I am man enough to be able to admit that. Hwei Min said she did not recognize him. True, he's gotten older, but the same calm, suave gentlemen is still there. In fact, I prefer the older Sean. If only we all can grow old like that.
Had a delicious meal at Ramu’s Curry. I don’t know if you’ve been to Ramu’s before. It used to be at Upper Thomson Road, along the row of shophouses at the 7-Eleven near Thomson Plaza. I still have memories of eating at that restaurant many years back then.
Back then, it was a great deal to go for dinner at Ramu's. It was almost an event on itself. After it was closed, we could not find another place for that kind of experience any more.
When you walked into the restaurant, they would serve you by first laying out a piece of banana leaf on the table, then going around serving the rice and the vegetables separately. There are 3 kinds of vegetables that come with the rice set, and this, the waiter would serve in an interesting hand-held container with a ladle.
Well, Ramu kept this practise at his new place. It may not be unique to Ramu's Curry, i've not been to enough South Indian restaurants to know, but it meant a lot to me.
With some stroke of luck, I found Ramu's again from an article featured on Today. Here's a link to their pda version of that article. They've yet to set up a website. I'll try to convince them, I nearly could not find the place! Thankfully Today had kept an online version.
The biryani rice was fabulous! You can taste the fragrance of the herbs in the rice with every mouthful. I believe this to be the best I have had, and believe me, it is good, because I consider biryani one of my top favorite food in Singapore.
Must try the curry fish head. The gravy was appetizing, spicy and sour, and filled with subtle layers of spices. Half a fish at 12, it was more than enough for the five of us. The fish meat was not flaky like how other fish head dishes i've tried felt, the overcooked ones. The meat was still tender, and yet, with the seasoning managing to get infused just right.
Also try the masala chicken. I have run out of descriptive phrases for the chicken, take the earlier part abou the fish, replace curry with gravy, fish with chicken, and you will get what I have to say.
One thing we missed was the fish cutlet, if their standard is intact, try that too!
The greatest fact about Ramu's? It did not burn a hole in my pocket. It was my treat that afternoon, the meal cost 40 plus, and we were all sufficiently full. The great thing is that Ramu's is air-conditioned, clean, (the kitchen was located next door, so no spicey smell on clothing when you are done with your meal), and moderately priced. You can't find many of South Indian restaurants that fit that category in Singapore. Either you have Muthu's Curry at Little India, which cost double for the same group of five, or 20-30 at Casuarina Curry at Casuarina Road, the other end of the spectrum. Ramu's is somewhere in the centre, representing great value for money.
Address that took me so long to find :-
Ramu's Kitchen, 198 Yio Chu Kang Road
Telephone: 6286 9861
Opening hours: 11am to 10pm, daily
I have sent a feedback letter to Today and SMRT concurrently, regarding the bus I took not too long ago.
Originally written on the 31st of December 2006, at
At shopping with Hwei Min on New Year's Eve. At
Now I am standing outside G2000 waiting for her. I would much rather watch people than look at clothes. We've been in G2000 so many times already! I don't want to buy anything! She doesn't want to buy anything either!
Once again, this is an example of the fundamental difference between Hwei Min and myself, and judging from experiences recounted by all our friends, most men and women as well.
First of all, I think the common misconception that men hate shopping is wholly untrue. It's just that men and women have a different definition of the word "shopping".
When men shop, we look for something at the shop, find it, buy it. Men ENJOY the satisfaction of getting what we want tremendously. We want to go home immediately to use the new device or gadget (usually) that we have bought.
When women shop, they mean walking around, looking around at things that catch their eye, buy something that catches their eye. And the words ‘
Now I don’t know about other men, though I suspect it to be the same for them. I do not enjoy women’s way of shopping. In fact, it causes real pain to my back. Mysteriously, my lower back aches faster than it normally does when I am just walking around, waiting for Hwei Min to shop.
I found that my back aches are alleviated 50% almost as soon as I stepped out of the shop. The pain is then alleviated a further 25% if I am looking at electronic devices, music CDs, games or DVDs. If I were to sit down somewhere where I can play at a LAN shop, or if I were to go to some new historical site and I can take my pictures, the pain will be 100% gone!
If what I read from ‘Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus’ is true, then this is very easy to explain. Men are motivated by a goal. Women are motivated by senses.
So to a man, shopping without a goal is, literally, a pain. Our testosterone levels drop tremendously, and thus I feel the backache.
Women however, need the shopping to raise their oxytocin levels. They need the flood to their senses. In fact, women actually enjoy talking, and asking for opinions on what to buy. They enjoy the feeling of togetherness.
So a proposal for couples…
- State how much time you spend shopping together at the start (SENSORY), so that men can aim to complete that time (GOAL).
- Then the men can go wander off and do something else that has a purpose, like maybe play a game, or even get a drink, (a GOAL) while the ladies can continue their shopping (SENSORY)
- Then, meet together again at a stated time and place. (a GOAL).
- Then the men can help the ladies make a choice on what to buy, of all those things that she has found. (SENSORY).
Wonderful? Hope that this works for you. Now to convince Hwei Min that we should follow this.
