The Naked Fish Shoppe

(Image Source)

The Naked Fish Shoppe is a western seafood restaurant located at the GrassRoots’ Club in Ang Mo Kio, a 5 minute walk away from the Yio Chu Kang MRT station. With 8 years of experience, the Naked Fish Shoppe serves mainly fish, prepared using various cooking techniques – deep/pan fried, grilled, baked or poached, in a cosy indoor setting.

If you are not a fish lover, the Naked Fish Shoppe also provides other seafood dishes such as seafood fried rice, steak, boneless chicken chop and seafood platter.

As this was a food tasting invitation by the OpenRice, a lunch menu consists of appetiser, soup, main course and dessert of our choices were served.

Crispy Calamari
$7.50

The calamari does not taste greasy but moist even after deep frying. However, I find that the breadcrumbs (was it?) that forms the outer shell makes the dish tastes like frozen fish nuggets you get from the supermarket.

A plate of crispy calamari (4 pcs) costs around $7.50, which in my opinion, is not really value for money.

Lobster Bisque
$4.50

Interestingly, the lobster bisque was served in a bread bowl which could also be eaten with the soup together. The soup, however, was not flavourful enough. It would be great if there were bits of lobster meat in the soup for additional texture to it.

Deep Sea Premium Grade Barramundi Fish Fillet
$14.50

I found out from the owner of the restaurant that the barramundi was imported and can be found in the deep sea, instead of the regular mud barramundi we see in wet markets.

I find that the Barramundi fillet tastes very fresh and tender. The lemon butter sauce tastes good on its own but is a tad disappointing as it doesn’t add flavour to the fish. However, I like the portion of the fillet served because it is very solid and filling.

If there’s anything I would like to change about this dish, it would be the sides. The hashbrown and mixed vegetables doesn’t look appetising enough. A simple, well tossed garden salad would add value to this dish.

Honeydew Pudding w/ Coconut Cream
Price Unknown

The honeydew pudding was a surprise. This small bowl of pudding ended the lunch on a sweet note. The pudding tastes very refreshing with the first few bites, but becomes a little sweet (I’m not a person with sweet tooth) towards the end.

The coconut milk added on top of the pudding is a good choice because it is creamy and balances the taste on the whole.

Other Services
The Naked Fish Shoppe also provides catering services for personal or corporate events.

On the whole I give this a 3/5. You may want to try out this place if you want a taste of fresh, solid fish fillets served at an affordable price.

Naked Fish Shoppe
The GrassRoots’ Club
190 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 8
#01-02
http://www.thenakedfishshoppe.com

Disclaimer: This is an invite only event.

Portobello Mushroom with ham and mozerella cheese

Was craving for some mushroom today and so I made this! I really love fuss free cooking!

Followed some recipes online but decided that I shall not add garlic, onions or anything else. It is really simple to make these and there’s no oil involved. Here’s my version:

Ingredients:

Mozerella Cheese
Honey Glazed Ham
Portobello Mushrooms

1. Remove the stalks of the mushrooms and wash the mushrooms clean.

2. Cut the ham into small squares and sprinkle on the the mushroom. General ratio: One piece of ham to one mushroom.

3. Cut blocks of mozerella cheese and place onto of the ham.

4. Warm the pot/pan and place the mushroom inside.

5. Cover the pot or pan and cook in low heat, until the cheese melts.

That’s how easy it is to make this!

You can also use cubed tomatoes instead of ham. I couldn’t find any tomatoes in my fridge that’s why I didn’t use it!

TS1101E – Introduction to Theatre and Drama

As my school term came to a closure, it marks the end of my first year in NUS.

I’m sure my peers would agree with me that the most time consuming module they took this semester was also their favourite. Needless to say, TS1101E is also my favourite module.

Sure… I still doesn’t like studying theories, but the practical portion of it was fun enough.

We took two and a half weeks to prepare for our final practical exam which we were required to put up a 20 minute excerpt of a well known play. We chose Six of the Best by Tan Tarn How. A local play written on the issue of racism in Singapore.

… and we only have 5 members. So it’s five of the best.

The best of the best.

Set making consumes most of my time. Loads of sweat went into the making of this 3 x 3 metres newspaper-mache wall which have to be combined within a few minutes during the set up.

I still remembered during one of our rehearsal, some seniors came in while we were packing up and commented that nobody has ever put in that amount of effort for a level-1000 exposure module.

And then comes Huat, a Hokkien speaking ah being who spews vulgarities! The best part of it was that it was Surendran who played Huat. We spent a few days looking for help in the translation bit and teaching a non-Chinese Hokkien.

Tried very hard not to laugh during rehearsal. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Can’t seem to be really immersed in the character. FAIL FAIL FAIL!

But anyhow, I’m deeply grateful for the efforts put into this dramatic performance by my team mates – Surendran, Gilchrist, Priscella and Gavin, despite the fact that TS1101E was not their core module. Most importantly, through it all we managed to forge a genuine friendship in this 2.5 weeks.

This may be the end of experiencing theatre for some of them, but it’s definitely the start for me. 2 more years to go! Go go go!

Blueberry and Cereal Yoghurt Parfait

Made this in 5 minutes this afternoon.

The word “parfait” is a french word, which means “perfect”. It is used typically to describe a cold dessert with layers of fruit, syrup, ice cream and whipped cream.

However, you can make this healthier without adding syrup, and replace ice cream and whipped cream with yoghurt.

Yoghurt parfait has great source of nutrients in it because it contains fruit and grains. Yoghurt itself already contains probiotics, calcium and protein. Therefore yoghurt parfait can be an awesome breakfast to start a day or a healthy snack treat.

I followed a general recipe online which the ingredients can be found in all supermarkets. And here’s my version:

1 cup of Meiji Mango Flavoured Yoghurt
I used mango flavoured yoghurt because I couldn’t stomach plain yoghurt

1/2 cup of Blueberries
You can use any kinds of fruit.

1/2 cup of Banana Nut Crunch Cereal
Contains banana, walnut and corn flakes

In a cup, layer it with yoghurt, blueberries, cereal and repeat layer till it reaches the top.

Back without a bang

Saw this on my facebook news feed and got reminded of strange topics that I used to discuss with Weepeng… during the good ol’ days when we use MSN messenger as our chat tool.

One of the phenomenon that we discussed before was that teachers become younger as we grow older:

DP4weepeng- back from OBS. Raleigh and Sam Sam Superman. =) says:
do u agree that
as u grow older
the teachers become younger

Valie says:
lol
yes
haha

DP4weepeng- back from OBS. Raleigh and Sam Sam Superman. =) says:
is it that old pple likes small kids?

Valie says:
pedo!!!
lol
no la
cos… when we in pri school, the teachers is this age
when we in sec school, the teachers still this age
then in poly, lecturers still this age

DP4weepeng- back from OBS. Raleigh and Sam Sam Superman. =) says:
oh
are u suree…?
hmmm

Valie says:
lol
quite?

DP4weepeng- back from OBS. Raleigh and Sam Sam Superman. =) says:
but hor
the teachers also grow with us mah

Valie says:
lol
but different teachers in school ma
most teachers age range from 25 – 30 plus
and therefore, different batch of teacers in different levels
so.. gets younger

DP4weepeng- back from OBS. Raleigh and Sam Sam Superman. =) says:
oh…
hm
explainable phenomenon..

Valie says:
lol

–

By the way… you have probably realised by now that I’ve re-activated my twitter account. Facebook is back to but set to private.

Will get down to blogging about what happened lately (and advertorials) soon!

By soon, I mean after my examinations which end on Thursday.

P/S: I am supposed to be sleeping by now because I have a paper later at 9am, but I feel the sudden urge to blog again!

On Hiatus

I might be just shutting down this site as a whole.

Let’s see how it goes.

If I don’t come back, let me just say thank you – my loyal readers who are with me for the past 2 and a half years. It’s been great knowing there are people who reads what I wrote, even though half the time it might be just sponsored reviews.

It’s tough making this decision because I really love blogging.

But because my private life is in a mess now, I think I really need to take the time off to sort out myself. If I don’t come back, it just means that I’ve decided to shut off from the limelight altogether.

I guess I will end it here. I have not much energy left right now because I’m having a migraine (always wonder how it feels like for someone to have migraine and well, I got it now. SO PAINFUL I feel like dying).

My facebook and twitter have been deactivated as well. But I will come back. Maybe you can consider switching to the bite size 140 characters tweeting of my life should you still wanna hear my voice on the internet.

Love you guys,
Valerie

Huayi Festival: 18 Springs

I only managed to catch 18 Springs for this year’s Huayi fest due to a conflict in schedules.

Source

However, I must say that I’m glad that the classic work of Eileen Chang in Mathias Woo’s rendition was really good.

I never tried reading the original story of Eighteen Springs. But I did watched the 1997 screenplay version that starred Leon Lai and Anita Mui.I felt that the stage version conveyed the emotions better than the movie.

Certain parts of the story were sung out by Jin Lisheng and Yu Qun, much like storytelling that is often accompanied by stringed musical instruments or commonly known as 弹词 in the 50s and 60s. As an audience, I felt like I was transported back in time, looking back at the tragic love story of Shijun and Manzhen.

There was particularly one part near the ending of the play that was very well put together, using a video of the meeting of Shijun and Manzhen 14 years after the tragedy happened:

女主角曼桢尝试把自己的遭遇告诉给男主角世钧听，但过了十四年后重逢却以平常心来诉说来龙去脉。

当时我对peng说道：其实重要的不是事，而是人。十四年后，时过境迁，一但人变得不重要了，事情也是如此。

Many times it is not the event itself that we remembered. It is the person that we spent our time with together that makes the moment memorable.

Hopefully the important people in our lives are still with us years later.

Turn offs for guys

So…. I attended a seminar on “Image for Oral Presentation” for one of my assignments last week and the speaker divided us by gender for one activity, that is to list out 10 image destroyers for both men and women.

The guys only managed to list out eight of them. But oh well, since I have the list I might as well post them so that girls of my age can know what the guys are thinking.

The list compiled is not in order of importance.

1) Untidy Hair
Fringe or hair that covers the face is a no-no. The guys prefers girls to look clean and fresh.

2) Revealing Clothes
Thumbs down for low cuts and translucent chiffon tops.

3) Bright Coloured Hair
They said that if you are Asian, then look like one. Blonde hair for Asians are big no-nos.

4) Huge Earrings
Self explanatory.

5) Too many Piercings
Self explanatory as well.

6) Too Shy
Shy girls need to speak up more so that they can strike up and continue a conversation. Key word is to CONTINUE a conversation.

7) Bad Postures
Walk with confidence, don’t slouch!

8) Lots of Make Up
Guys really like clean faces and minimal make up. So skip the foundation routine and opt for a light coverage such as BB cream. Also ditch your thick black eyeliner that make you look like a panda. Use a brown eyeliner instead to tightline your eyes for a natural and well defined eyes.

Healthy fast food alternative – VeganBurg

Few weeks ago I met up with my friends as one of my friend came home from Taiwan for a short CNY visit. We were deciding between VeganBurg and some other vegetarian restaurants and then I suddenly remembered that Ling introduced VeganBurg to me before.

I’m not really a fan of vegetarian food because I MUUUUUUST have my daily intake of chicken and other meat. But it is good to have a change because I’ve been taking in loads of meat during CNY.

So VeganBurg it was.

I ordered Smoky BBQ from their menu, it is a burger with mushroom patty dressed in BBQ sauce. It was so yummy! And the fries! They taste so good!

We also ordered some sides and I must say I really like the vegan franks. It tastes so alike to chicken franks even though they are made from tofu. The salad is good as well if you dislike mock meat.

I will go back again with my friends because I found out that I have a bus service that takes me straight from Bukit Panjang to their doorstep in 30 minutes.

My new favorite perfume!

Recently I attended a workshop on image presentation and I found out that the strong perfume scent is in the list of the top 10 image destroyers.

But no, this post is not about the workshop. It is about my latest fave – pureDKNY A Drop of Rose EDP.

A while ago I was invited to the launch of pureDKNY’s A Drop of Rose EDP and by the end of the event, I was sold.

The perfume smells really light, with a tinge of rose scent, a scent that reminds me of rose syrups.

A Drop of Rose pureDKNY’s latest perfume with its predecessors, A Drop of Vanilla and A Drop of Verbena, trailing behind.

The roses that were used in the making of each bottle perfumes were hand picked individually in the pre-dawn hours, in Turkey’s Anatolian flower fields during the harvest season in June.

By season’s end, 2500 tons of petals have been bagged, weighed, and transported by a truck to the distillery where they are processed through 26 stills into essential oil of rose. The essential oil would then be added into the making of the fragrance.

The packaging of the perfume is absolutely recyclable. The perfume bottles and caps are made up of 100% recyclable glass and aluminum components, while its carton is bio-degradable and printed with low-VOC inks. The outer wrap is made from cellulose.

In addition, I also found out that pureDKNY has a partnership with CARE, a leading humanitarian organization to help lift women out of global poverty. Hence, DKNY will make donations to support CARE in order to continue its efforts in providing resources to help more women to escape poverty.

I also received a bottle of A Drop of Rose and I really loved it!

I find this perfume incredibly versatile. I can apply it when I’m going to school and to events. The best part about it is that the perfume lasts for about 6 hours in the hot summer weathers of Singapore.

You can find pureDKNY A Drop of Rose EDP in both 50ml and 100ml, at the price of $96.00 and $132.00 respectively at all major departmental stores.