Korean adventures in Blowfish aka Pufferfish

Yesterday, we wanted to have dinner at my aunt's favorite Korean restaurant, Xing Xing Korean Restaurant, along Tanjong Pagar road (which I also had lunch at with colleagues to celebrate the end of fucking horrible 2016 *an epic horrendous year of losses*). Unfortunately that evening the restaurant was fully occupied with a Korean tour group (seriously,  you come to Singapore to eat Korean? It's like me going to Korea to eat mee pok :D but I can understand. After a few days in Australia, my mother and I wanted to just find rice, any rice.). 

So we ended up at another Korean restaurant which I had eaten before, because I wanted to ask Bobo to try sea squirts, only to receive a vehement "NO". The BBQ was cheaper but because we were freaking cold from the relentless rain, we decided to order a hotpot. I wanted to get codfish (they were out *sigh*) so I suggested blowfish. 

"Blowfish? Is that pufferfish?" Bobo asked. Yeah, turned out it was. After a few grumbles about being poisoned, we chose the pufferfish. As we were eating the hotpot, Bobo suddenly piped up, "wait a sec, didn't we have pufferfish the other time?"

"You mean at Jagalchi? It was abalone."

"No, that pufferfish specialty restaurant."

금수 복국 specializes in pufferfish

Oh Yah! That pufferfish specialty restaurant 금수 복국! Back in Jul, we decided to go to Busan and Seoul for a week. As usual, I used blogs for references, earning me a lot of brickbats from Bobo this time as many of the suggested eateries are no longer open. I must say that South Korean turnover is super high, as compared to other recommendations I get from blogs for other countries, we encountered close to 70% failures.

Fortunately, 금수 복국 was open. In fact, it was bustling with lunch hour business when we reached in our usual blundering, confused mode (GPS and Google maps suck when standing along narrow streets especially with nearby tall buildings. The business is split into two floors, one floor serving the busy lunch crowd of ajummas and ajussis (I noticed an overwhelming proportion of older folks) who just want to eat, gossip, and glare at us two strange morons not necessarily in that order. The top floor is the more atas, zen establishment where you can dwell in silence about being potentially dying from a bite of the poisonous fish.

The saner priced menu (downstairs)

I was determined to try the atas "Kaiseki" menu, of course, having read that the blogger had a romantic set which I thought was reasonably priced. Bobo kicked up a fuss of course, because that salty olive wanted to eat the cheaper dishes downstairs.

But of course I prevailed.

But the so called romantic set was no longer available. Instead we ordered the fugu sashimi lunch set (40,000 won per pax). On hindsight, this is still cheaper than eating in Singapore (the hotpot alone was S$75, didn't even come with rice. Is so banned by me now).


For this price, we enjoyed the following:

See? Upstairs is different. Once you sit down, there is a chilled pumpkin soup

Banchan comprising of anchovies, cabbage kimchi, eggplants and octopus (or was it Jellyfish?)

Palate cleanser of "gelatin-like" fugu skin salad

La piece d'Resistance, Fugu sashimi

The service is different upstairs and downstairs. Downstairs they were polite, efficient but abrupt, even had a lady who could communicate in Mandarin. Upstairs, while the Manager could not communicate well in English, he was really effusive and endeavored. The lady who served us could not speak a word of English, but was very kindly and gentle, guiding us on how to eat the fugu sashimi. To roll chives and fugu skin (white strips in middle of plate) in a slice of see-through flesh before dipping in wasabi or gochujang, whichever floated your boat.

Some fishes. We can't understand Korean, but by the staff's hand gestures, they should be and were super yumz

More fugu in a yummy sauce

Fried Udon to fill us up. I super like!

Tempura. So-so I thought.

Finally we had the fugu stew. You could choose between spicy and non-spicy, which both of us tried. Spicy was better.

Both spicy and non-spicy versions came with golden mushrooms, watercress and bean sprouts with the fugu. You could add condiments, which came at the side.

I thought that for the variety and service we had, the price was worth it. Also there was the beautiful and quiet ambience, nice to relax and cool down after a morning trek to the gorgeous but bloody ulu Haedong Yonggungsa (famous temple by the sea). Note: one of the Busan's outlet malls is about two bus stops down from the temple's bus stop. I would have stopped but Bobo didn't let me *infuriated*.

Seriously no joke, trekking in the hot Korean summer to reach the temple.

[Batam 2014] A&W - the original Creamier

So in lieu of traveling far this year, Bobo and I decided to take a short weekend trip to Batam to relax. Unfortunately I was true to form, and wouldn't relax, choosing to travel around Batam instead of resting at the resort. If you travel from Singapore to Batam, NEVER buy the trip from a tour guide when you can buy a coupon for it. After researching for days, I chose the deals.com.sg coupon over the groupon one because (1) it was cheaper (2) had free bus transfer, otherwise pay S$5 in 1 direction/person (3) free bowling game (4) free foot reflexology/massage. Good deal right?

The deals.com.sg coupon we got entitled us to one free bus transfer, so we used that on the first day we got to Batam after dropping off our gear. The resort bused us to Nagoya Hill Mall, where it is said by many Singaporean tourists, that you haven't traveled to Batam if you didn't worship at the A&W idol's paws.

The Beary God

Oh, A&W, how we mourn the loss of your waffle and root bear float on our tiny shores, subjecting us to the fate of overpriced waffles and ice cream made with flour at over-hyped gelato shops.

I must admit it was tremendously strange to eat chicken with rice and no veggies.

Ate with the fingers. Dish didn't come with utensils.

Of course the meal was not complete without the Pièce de résistance, La Waffle. Yumz.

[Bali 2013] Staying at Green Field, Ubud

Our room was near the pool

After the rest of Bobo's family flew home after the wedding, he and I travelled upwards to Ubud for the rest of the stay. I wanted a restful stay (disclaimer: I was not trying to eat, pray, love, though I did get preyed on by monkeys and mosquitoes). 

Stone Mushrooms. Why?

Our room door

The massive bedroom with no tv...

Balcony, to show you how close we were to the padi fields

The other side of the massive room

I could feel eyes boring at me

Oh there you are!

We stayed at Green Field, Ubud. The bellboy was showing us the room, which was in a separate building with its own path, though we seemed to be sharing some parts of it with a eater-prayer-lover long-term tourist  lady. Frankly the room gave Bobo the creeps (later it turned out that an iguana lived above our heads, and was probably the eyes staring at him). As for me, I was most disturbed by the fact that there was no television. But wait there was a huge cupboard in one corner of the room. When I pointed at it, the bellboy opened it and sort of like "ta-da", to my massive disappointment. It   was NOT a massive LED tv hiding behind the door but...

The only one who enjoyed himself

A bloody tiny fridge in the midst of all that balinese wood. I was like.... WTF!? The bellboy was a bit puzzled over my lack of excitement. I suppose most people who visit Ubud want to find themselves and not HBO. Later when we were visiting the heron colony, which was in the trees above a kampung (village), I noted sourly to Bobo that even the local villagers were richer than us, because they had a tv to watch.

More cam-whoring

Other than that, the place is gorgeous, and very restful with a lovely salt water pool (if I didn't recall wrongly). It also had beautiful flowers, bizarre garden ornaments and scary fauna. The only entertainment available was at the lounge near the lobby. But you could watch the ducks amble in and out of the flooded padi fields. Great consolation for me, because I liked ducks. For Bobo, it was like watching Bebek Bengil flexing and working out to meet his palate's satisfaction.

Having breakfast

"What are you staring at?" says the Squirrel

"What are you staring at?" says the iguana

I'm pretty sure there was something in this photo, that's why I took it. Nothing else special about coconuts.

There was a plum tree outside our room. I didn't realize that plums could grow in Bali!?!!!

Wildy Random Foto - Ladybug

Taken with Nikon V1 10-30mm lens

Tried my hand at shooting guns

 

Guns are banned in Singapore. So naturally when I went to USA, there were four things on my mind (not necessarily in that order) shooting a gun, In-n-Out Burger, Alcatraz Island and Cheesecake Factory (or anything Big Bang Theory). 

I am not promoting violence per se (ok, I am a pretty violent person), but I really wanted to know how it'd feel to really shoot a gun or try hunting. Before we went for our trip, I started checking out the places that offered shooting in Las Vegas, because we were going to be there longest due to Bobo's work commitments. 

I found a few places that let you try shooting very scary guns, but they tend to be a tad too expensive and dubious-looking. So I was delighted to find out that Clark County (where Las Vegas is located, by the way) had a shooting complex, complete with shooting facilities and free orientation lessons by their experienced staff. I checked via email with them if foreigners could try shooting, and they said it was ok, just bring your ID along.

We wanted to drive out there Thursday night after collecting the rental car, but due to bad math, we mixed up the dates, we weren't able to go together. We could only get the car on Friday, and everyday Bobo had to work till at least 6pm, and the shooting was until 7pm most nights, except for Wednesday and Thursday nights.

So by the time Sunday (last day in Las Vegas) rolled around, Bobo still had to work till 4pm so I decided to go by myself, even though I wasn't exactly sure about the address. (1) I read on some websites that it was better to avoid other parts of Las Vegas other than the Strip, especially North Las Vegas, which coincidentally where the shooting complex was located (the northen most part~!). (2) I didn't really dare to go by myself.

The pistol and rifle complex is that little orange building, against an awesome backdrop

I summoned what little courage I had, and armed with that horrible Hertz Neverlost (it got me lost a lot of times during this trip), my printed Google maps and an abysmal data connection, I drove out to North Las Vegas. I predictably got lost, because the Hertz map ran out on the coordinates, and the area looked really lonely and wild beyond where the Neverlost brought me. The canyon loomed ahead.

Don't miss it! Past this main entrance, you still have to drive further into the canyon.

I thought the Neverlost was being dumb, and drove to a nearby shopping area, so that I could stop the car and pore over the map. I decided to try driving out into the canyon, and was rewarded for my daring.

I drove up to the highest point, which was where the rifle and pistol shooting located. They also had shotgun and archery further down the hill. Getting out the car, I took some quick photos, and flinched everytime I heard a loud crack. I figured even if I didn't dare to shoot, at least I managed to capture the experience.

There was a very friendly uncle and young lady chatting by the slope leading up to the nearest building (administration office). He turned to me and asked me if I was here to try shooting. I replied yeah!

He smiled a friendly welcome and pointed me to the door. "Go in and sign up."

So I went in, the people at the range are all very friendly folks, they really made me feel very welcome, and I had a super fun time there. I was advised to watch a short video on the simple rules they had for the complex (namely the obvious "point the gun downwards at the range"), which allowed me to collect a yellow card. I was told that with the yellow card, I would not have to watch the video again the next time. The rules were quite simple, 20 minutes of shooting, then 10 minutes of resting. During the resting time, no one can touch their shooting table where the guns lay, and everyone will go out and change/collect their shooting targets. Point the gun downwards at the range, and upwards after you leave the range.

Smith & Wesson pistol ok!

Then I was told to fill out a form and choose which shooting targets I wanted to buy. The man in charge asked me if I wanted to try a rifle or pistol. I asked him what is the difference in experience, and he told me that with the pistol, you could shoot multiple times at a go but it was harder, while with the rifle you have to keep reloading but it was easier to pick up.  The rental pistol and rifle used the same kind of bullets.

Form and card

I chose the rifle. Too bad I didn't have my own gun, so I had to rent the equipment. Thankfully, they let me swap out for the pistol later, without having to pay a separate rental fee. Aren't they great? I was quite eaten by jealousy when I saw what awesome guns the other people brought with them to the range.  

Setting up targets during cooling-off periods

Mr Mitch taught me how to load the rifle and later, the pistol. I tried shooting the rifle at 5 yards then 15 yards, then 17 yards. It definitely got harder to get bulls eye at 17 yards, especially since my arm got tired from holding and aiming the guns. 

I should have change to pistol earlier, because my arm became very tired to point and shoot properly. I tried shooting for 3 hours and changed several targets. The people in the office were super nice and equally excited with me that I was having such a great time at the range. Of course, because you have the great view of the canyon in the distance. It looks as if you are shooting into the canyon but actually you shoot into the sand banks in front. Phew phew!

As for the other people at the range, they were mostly families coming to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon shooting targets together or serious gunheads trying their really impressive looking guns (complete with binoculars, cool). There was a scary group of gangster-looking uncles at one end, but they left everyone alone. So it was all good.

Awesome gun 1

Super Awesome gun 2 (the sound from this gun made me JUMP)

The only bad experience I had was when this older man set up his two daughters at the shooting table next to mine, and every time they discharged their revolver, the bloody brass would ping me in the head because we were standing so close together.

If you are interested, 

Check out the Clark County shooting complex here with its shooting fees.

Mr Mitch explained that gunshells are expensive for other gun models, so most people buy the scrap brass so that they can make their own bullets. They can increase or reduce the amount of gunpowder accordingly, lesser for shooting range, more for hunting.

Delicious Onion

I'd better hurry up and finish the Bali posts while I can (will explain why soon). This was the last place we ate at before leaving Bali. 

Delicious Onion is located outside our hotel (without TV, such a sin, thanks to that experience, when I ever book accomodation, I will look out for the magical word TV, after air-con *lol*). 

We experienced sweltering heat as we wandered out of the hotel at noon, searching for food before our flight in the evening (it was yet another horrific 2 hour drive to the airport, thanks to the all-too-predictable traffic jams on two lane roads). 

I had been sorely tempted by the menu when walking past. So many burgers on the menu (the fact that we eventually chose local Indonesian food on the menu is an irony lost on me). They even had motorbikes for hire, but we were too stupid to handle one (me especially), so the lady told us to return them even before we left the premises. I want to get a motorbike licence!!!

Anyway it was too hot, so we walked back and ate there. It was cooling under the makeshift shelter and we sat on a bench. I like eateries with weird ass inconsistent seating because it makes them look effortlessly cozy. I accidentally insulted the lady again when I passed her a lollipop for the little boy I saw yesterday while we were renting the bike. She said... she is a girl. OOPZ.

Since it was the last day already, we ordered some satay, ayam rice, and Peranakan pork dish (we also ordered gyoza, don't ask me why). Turns out the cafe was owned by a Singaporean. There were two doggies at the cafe. One crazy ass poodle (I think, I can't remember), which kept barking, and this cute bigger doggie which begged Bobo for food. I think he knew Bobo doesn't eat much. When I tried to walk around the table to pet him, he wandered off. So dao!

We were worried that the food would take long because the lady still had to heat the charcoal for bbqing the satay. Luckily we were just outside our hotel (the driver was bloody late in the end). I did feel a little bad that she had to stand in the harsh sunlight and handle the even harsher heat from the charcoal grill.

The rest of the staff busied (ok it was a joke, because there was no hurrying) themselves making the rest of the dishes. The gyoza was the usual pan-fried processed ones so nothing special there. The pork dish came with a clear veggie soup, i.e. veggies floating on top of a instant chicken stock (a dish ubiquitous in Bali). I was reminded of the imagery from the Endless Steppe (I read way too many books on Jewish persecution during WWII when I was a teenager) where Esther Hautzig described the nasty vegetable soup they got in the cargo cars. *shiver*

The rice in our dishes smelled pretty good but was quite wet. Probably didn't have enough time to dry after cooking yet. I liked Bobo's pork more than my chicken because I don't really like chicken breast meat (otherwise known as white meat). 

Now to think of it I kind of regretted not ordering a burger. But the place was not bad for its ambience.