MAKAN-MAKAN IN SINGAPORE

The hotel in Killiney Road, Singapore that I stayed in last week is not Muslim-friendly although it is a very comfortable, value-for-money place. I guessed they do not have that many Muslim guests to warrant a "Direction of the Kiblat arrow" on the ceiling or, as in some hotels, inside the bedside drawer. The room comes with free buffet breakfast but ham or bacon is served cheek-by- jowl with the baked beans and beef patties. There is a food stall next door with a mamak stall inside. The sign says "Muslim Food" with "Bismillah" thrown in for good measure. The food though is not as good as Mehboob's or Syed's in Bangsar. The mee mamak is blushing red and so is the briyani
There are many other food places along Killiney Road although I am not allowed to eat at most of them. There is a shop selling Sarawak Kolok mee, an Italian restaurant, a Thai restaurant, a shop selling Malay currypuffs and Javanese noodles and a 7-11 where Mimi had cup noodles late at night. Most of these shops have tables outside and ONE of the tables is designated for smokers. Under the new law, you can only smoke at the designated table. If you want to quit smoking, Singapore is a good place to live in. You cannot bring in cigarettes and one packet of Salem costs SD10. That's RM24 for 20 sticks.

If you are hankering for Nasi Padang you can go to the shop in front of Great World (Zion Road side). Unfortunately for me, they closed for the Hari Raya holidays. I discovered a new place for authentic delicious Nasi Padang fare in Telok Ayer Street (opposite the DBS Bank).
The owner told me that he has been in the Nasi Padang business for the last 14 years. His wife is the chef. They have 3 outlets now. This particular shop caters mainly for the business crowd who can eat on company's expenses. I do not know about the prices because I was a guest and guests are not supposed to ask about the damage. What I remembered is they have a unique way of serving rice. The rice comes in a banana leaf cone much like the Terengganu nasi dagang. heavy eaters will invariably have to ask for another cone in due course. They serve sambal belacan whether you ordered it or not. The sambal comes with lime.
Their otak-otak ( a whole deboned fish in spicy santan) is delicious and so is the grilled sotong which I attempted to gum without much success.
For less elaborate Nasi Padang, go to this shop in Killiney Road ( fronting the Singtel Commcenter).
The rendang and the masak asam pedas will not disappoint you. There is a table for 4 smokers outside. Yes, you might be asking the same question that I asked: Is this the "Sifu's" shop? Go and find out.

Raya With the Remainder of My Cucus

NEW PAGES & BALIKLAH WOK

You might already be home by now but I hope it is not to too late to give you the Baliklah Wok Teganung sajok nicely zipped.
I also managed to finish the new English pages for Misi:1511. Comments most welcomed.

New pages here.
The zip file (3,191 KB) can be downloaded here
until I move it elsewhere or somewhere else.

Have a Happy Hari Raya!

HAVE A HAPPY HOLIDAY

Between marking exam answer papers and building a new website for Misi 1511, I really have little time to think up subjects to post.
I will be away from my PC one week beginning Hari Raya so I guess I will see you here only after Raya Nang. I will see what I can do about the numerous requests for "Baliklah Wok" and other sajok Teganung.
Have a meaningful Raya everyone. Maaf Zahir Batin.

SORRY FOR NOT REALLY SORRY

Sometimes children say sorry not because they want to but because they have to. Adults say sorry only after people are distressed or upset but not to apologize for what they have said or done. The various apologies of late are very good examples.
In view of the various apologies demanded and offered, I give you an Apology clip (very short, I need not apologise to dialup users) that is part of a very famous British comedy show.
Fire up your favourite Media Player to enjoy (and ponder on) this video.

COMING SOON

When I was growing up in Kuala Terengganu a long long time ago, cinemas had unique ways to advertise their screenings. They distributed one-page flyers which were known as sakelar (from the word "circular") or they mounted their posters on A-Board which were then tied rather precariously on a teksi (trishaw). A kacang putih bell was tied somewhere between the A-Board. As the trishaw moved through town, the motion activated the bell and made people look at the posters.
Now, with bigger budgets, movies are advertised in many media. There are billboards, sidewalk banners, trailers on TV as well as ads in the print media. When Internet came, movies started to be advertised on the world wide webpages. Now even local movies are using the Internet as a marketing tool. There is one that I made for a forthcoming movie. It is one of the rare local movies shot entirely on HD digital medium. Have a look at the site and let me know if I can make a living as a web designer. There are a lot of rough edges yet to be smoothed which I shall do between naps and between sahur and subuh. There are a few web writing rules broken (like using very big files) but I broke the rules because the customer is always right.
The site is here, Enjoy the trailers and the slideshows.