www.Go To The Mountain - Musings of a Potential Guru

Still on hor fun. It is a very important food in Singapore as every tze char stall in every nook and cranny of the little red dot has some but great hor fun (which must have wok hei) like great men are hard to find.  Few people knew it but there used to be a great hor fun at Boon Tong Kee at Balestier Road. The hor fun is not dark and it came wiht fresh prawns with liver and pork with a superb gravy. The wok hei lingers in your mouth and under the tongue fulfilling your heart's contentment. It was well worth it even for $12. However, I have not been there for quite some time since I went there for the hor fun but somehow they did not tasted the same so I have stopped going. I did not have so much time to travel around and worse if I have to queue for food so I finally decided to go to G7 Sin Ma Live Seafood for something different and of course for hor fun. G7 as you know made out of the Group of 7 world powers. They should have a meeting here and we treat them to a hor lo...

It is amazing that globally, the economy sucks and yet soccer is doing a roaring business. Soccer agents are peddling their stars and making mega bucks. In the past, you could seeing ageing stars in their 30s making a beeline to play in the Middle-East where the oil money is and later some to North America. These days, we are seeing much younger players moving to China to play in Shanghai, etc. It is all about the money. There is the latest news that Chelsea's Brazilian star Oscar is moving to Shanghai for a reported 60 million pounds and a weekly salary of 400,000 pounds! Where did the money come from. A drop from heaven? The danger is if left unchecked, someday, somewhere, something will run aground. They will affect the other top leagues and some day bankrupt the system. When the Chinese want something they will pay and over pay be they be freight or soccer players.  This will put pressure on the rest of Europe and the world. It is important for players to not just play for m...

Chelsea are inching away with 1-0 wins and looked Mourinho-ish in their 1-0 win over Crystal Palace. If Liverpool have a defence that play like theirs, they would be league champions. Arsenal who finally look like the real thing have stumbled, again albeit a month later than usual. Manchester City, in self-doubt have bounced back strongly and Manchester United seemed to have overcome their earlier setback. This week and next will be the 'killer' weeks that may make or break any team. Merry Christmas! and a Happy New Year!  Week 18 Watford v Crystal Palace - The Hornet surprisingly went down at Sunderland last week while Palace had nothing to show for their big effort on Chelsea though they played well. Alan Pardew need a result here and they are six points and five places behind Watford. Usually when they meet they do not do draw and one of them wins. Palace are playing better than the results has shown and Waford have not been scoring. Away win. 0-1 . Alan Pardew has be...

In Singapore today, it is so fashionable for restaurants and hawkers to display newspapers and magazines cut outs or food excellence ratings from some famous bloggers, etc. so much so that so many stalls have good ratings or you may think that only those with such displays serve good food.  As for me, I prefer discovering good food on my own - new or old. I would also try to revisit old ones to find out if they are still good and I like helping small restaurants and to make hawkers happy because their work is not easy yet they fed people with good food. Friends would also suggest places to go and food to eat but I am no full time blogger nor paid and I do not accept free food even when offered. It is hard for me to accept food that is tepid. There must be enthusiasm because I know a lot of people who do no know what to eat for their next meal most days. Of course this is better than not knowing when is your next meal. And there are one or two people who while eating their ...

They are playing soccer in the EPL faster than I could write. What's with these people? Two weeks ago, I shared my concerns on the state of Singapore soccer and last Sunday, the Strait Times carried a report with interviews with Patrick Ang and R. Sasakumar. I share and agree with many of their views. Maybe we could learn a bit from the Indonesians. So how now Singapore?  Back to the EPL. Last week threw out some funny results - Swanseas 3 Sunderland 0, Leicester 4 Manchester City 2, Liverpool 2 West Ham 2. Again more from Gameweek 16 - Bournemouth 1 Leicester 0, Everton 2 Arsenal 1. It is going to be very tight this season and a roller coaster ride. Put on your seat belt and hang on tight! Christmas is coming! Crystal v Chelsea - Palace's home loss to United the other day (1-2) was narrow after a cracking 3-3 draw away to Hull and a 3-0 home win over Southampton. Surely no harm for another home match except their visitors are Chelsea who are in the winningest form of th...

This is quite special in Singapore - our hawkers and food courts. I shall not be telling you how our hawkers evolved and it is definitely a better story than apple pen. Put our hawkers in an air-conditioned environment and it becomes a food court and are managed differently. In older days, it is difficult to find cheaper foods other than restaurants in Orchard Road or at the airport terminals. Young people like to go to Orchard Road just like for us who were once very young too. As one gets older, you should have less needs and wants. You do not really even want to go to town but when you do at least once in a while, so as to be updated to the rapid changes going around us and not be a mountain tortoise, you still do not to end up buying things but on thing you will need is to eat. Takashimaya has lots of small eateries especially for Japanese food while Scotts where Isetan is has a big food court.  I did not even know that Tangs has a nice one at the basement.  ...

Watford v Everton - The Hornet got stung at the Hawthorns (1-3) and now host the resurgent Toffees who held the Red Devils 1-1 at Old Trafford . Ronald Koeman almost got hung for hanging red balls on his Christmas tree. Welcome to Merseyside . With two straight losses, Watford are in need to rediscover better form while Everton should take heart from a gritty performance against Manchester United. If not for the woodwork, David de Gea and a few blocks, they might even have won the match towards the end. In fact, Rojo should have been sent off for the two legged lunge. Watford can improve as they have shown but it depends which Everton turn up. However, Watford have not won this tie since the late 80s. When it happened, Luther Blissett scored. How many of you true blue remember Luther? Unbeaten in the last eleven times they have met, Everton won nine and drew twice, both in last season. Watford are better at home and Everton have too many draw. Either side could win this ...

Life is all about timing. Graduate at the wrong time and you could find it hard to get a job or the industry with your expertise has crashed. Ditto for the stock market, for somebody to make, someone else must have lost. Even so when buying a property. Your best may sometimes just not be enough. Being good is also sometimes not enough.  Being first or last can also be due to timing. Being first in the queue for the latest mobile phone is your own doing or undoing. If you get one that explodes first then you have had it. There are other firsts and lasts that are beyond your control. If we criticise the younger generation now, there are some truths about it but had we been born at their time, would we not end up the same?  Being the first Emperor and the Last Emperor is drastically different. The last emperor ended up as a gardener. No, an assistant gardener. As the PSLE results are released, I hope all parents take note there is always hope. The system requires us to g...