Most useful software list

I read a lot, especially the online news. I also like technology related things, both software and hardware. Recently, I have come across this list of software compiled by download.com and lifehacker which is very good for every level of user.

Check it out.

The best new Windows programs of 2008 - Chrome, Songbird, Smart Defrag, Digsby

Windows Starter Kit: Must-have PC apps - Firefox, OpenOffice, Paint.net, MediaMonkey, 7-Zip, Launchy

Most Popular Free Windows Downloads of 2008

Free Software We're Most Thankful For

Marutama Ramen at the Central

If you do go out walk walk, you should know there is a new shopping centre - Central above the Clarke Quay mrt. Their main theme is Japan. So, you can find many jap food eateries and stuff there.

Although I know about this stall quite sometime ago, but the queue always put me off. Finally, today I went there with friend. The queue although seems to be long, but was moving quite fast.

We are seated and presented with the menu. My first impression on the menu is it is unbelievable simple. There are few choices and I decided on the Chicken soup ramen which cost $12.

The shop decoration is simple and the menu items are only a few. I think they actually try to mimic the Japan shop layout and it is just so simple. Anyway, no matter what, only food quality counts. Having tried so many Japan ramen before, I have a high expectation on this shop, since they said it is famous in Japan.

True enough, the chicken soup is superb. It is thick and rich, one of the best. However, the 12 would only give me plenty of men, onion, seaweed and a piece of char siu. It is rather expensive, looking at the ingredients only. You can put additional topping at extra cost. The noodle is rather thin, but good, although I prefer it to be thicker. Overall, it is a very good ramen.

(I didn't take down any picture, but a google search "Marutama Ramen the central" would give you plenty of images)

Money saving tips for recession

Looks like we are stuck in the recession already. Hopefully, it would be over soon. Although the inflation has receded, but the cost of goods did not really come down. Here are 7 tips that can help to save money.

1. Eat breakfast at home. 4 pieces of bread and 3 in 1 coffee would cost at most 1+. But, fried bee hoon with egg and cabbage plus a kopi would cost 2.90. Bread is less oily some more.

2. Eat at hawker centre rather than food court and restaurant. This is pretty obvious right? The food court and restaurant would definitely cost more. Pick those ulu hawker centre which still charge less.

3. Eat mixed vegetable rice. My office lunch gang frequent nearby food court. Mixed vegetable rice is the cheapest food that can be found among the stalls. Even a fish ball noodle also cost $4, compare to $3+ for a plate of rice. Furthermore, mixed vege rice would give you more nutrition.

4. Watch movie on Mon-Wed. The price is cheaper and the crowd is much lesser than weekend. So, if you really must watch, watch on Mon-Wed.

5. Exercise more. Instead of drinking, party going or karaoke, why don't get some friends to jog together. It is fun, and much more healthy this way. Other entertainment cost much more during weekend, but exercise does not cost more during weekend.

6. Avoid window shopping. People have tendency to go window shopping with nothing to buy in mind. More than often you bought things on impluse. So, if you didn't go, that won't happen at all. Have a shopping list and only follow it closely.

7. Utilise broadband internet connection more. You can chat with friend online to reduce traveling and meeting time. You can read news without buying physical newspaper. There are many ways your unlimited broadband connection can help you save some money.

Spend on what you need to, not what you want to.

Renew passport at High Commission of Malaysia in Singapore

Today went to renew my international passport. Here is the brief details, correct as of Dec 08.

Location:
High Commission of Malaysia
301 Jervois Road
Singapore 249077

Hours(Mon-Fri):
Submission: 8am - 11:30am
Collection: 2:30pm - 4:15pm

Things to prepare:
2 blue background passport sized photo
Original and photocopy of Malaysia IC
Existing passport
Original and photocopy of Singapore PR IC or any pass as proof of status

Transport:
Take bus 14 or 65 from Orchard MRT. Alight at the 4th bus stop. See road sign and walk in.
At the same bus stop opposite direction, you can take bus 32 to Lavendar MRT ICA Building.

Process:
1. Reach the high com and exchange visitor pass
2. Once arrived at the office, go to counter to get an application form (SGD0.50)
3. Fill up the form and join the queue. Get all documents ready, they would check.
4. Queue number would be issued and wait for the turn
5. After counter check ok, pay SGD128(subject to change) at payment counter.
6. Get the ticket and come back afternoon 2:30pm

7. In afternoon, exchange the pass and enter again
8. Wait for your visitor pass number to be called
9. Give back the ticket, collect passport and receipt

Since my old passport has more than 6 months left, they kindly extended the expiry of new passport by 6 months. There are also photocopy service and photo taking service available on the spot.

Reader, leave your comment if anything being missed out or you would like to add.

我看海角七号

上个星期，去看了电影海角七号。过去几个月，已经听说了它在台湾屡创佳绩，心中不仅纳闷它吸引人的地方在那里？在我去看之前，已经预料它可能并不会很好看。

出了戏院之后，它果然并不是非看不可，但影片有它过人之处。故事讲的是一个失意的青年在回到了家乡之后与其他村民组成乐队表演，间中穿插了七封过期了的信。每一个人物都有他们背后的故事。每一个人的背后都累积了一点的感动，仿佛其中的一个就发生在你我之间。加上口耳相传，累积出无敌票房。这是一个现象。它的成功是出人意表的。也许下一部海角八号，就没了它的票房。

它也使我想起了881，也是一个现象。881有着非常好的票房，令人始料不及。成功之处就是引起了老一辈的共鸣，再加上媒体的推波助澜，成就了一个历史。然而881的故事结构比较松散，连贯性不够。相较之下，海角七号就好多了。

海角七号故事乡土味较重，也比较接近生活。故事本身也有蛮多笑点的。戏中的live表演，也有抓住人心的魅力。如果你不介意没有炫丽的特效，值得一看。

Olive Vine Pasta Fusion @ The Food Place Raffles City

I was window shopping at Raffles City and passed by the level 3 - The Food Place. The food court just completed the renovation and reopen. The design and signboard is brand new, but still operate by Food Junction. In the stall list, I found some unfamiliar name, so decided to check it out.


Quite classy design. Different than your usual food junction food court. Maybe they are aiming to go more high end.

After browse through all the stall, this stall caught my attention - Olive Vine Pasta Fusion. There are couple of factors - the pretty smiling lady boss, the flame powered pasta cooking, using of olive oil, no msg added, affordable price and interesting menu item.

I quickly decided to try the Fettuccine Carbonara. The reason being I just passed by one restaurant selling the dish at 12.90 with service charge etc. This one is selling at 6.90 only. Price being one of the reason, but the pasta looks good on the picture too.


Looks tempting right? You want to rush down to pasta shop now?

At this stall, the noodle type is fixed. I have tried carbonara at different place before. The key thing about carbonara is it must go along with Fettuccine. Somebody told me this, and I don't exactly know why. I guess is because the ribbon noodle can better carry the cheese sauce with it. So, you eat more cheese sauce and gain more weight.

Inside the sauce, there are cheese, ham, bacon and garlic. If you like cheese, this tastes heavenly. To me, the standard is really good. A good sauce with right ingredient and tasty noodle, this made up a satisfying pasta meal at a very good price. What say you? Go and try it yourself.

Omurice at Takashimaya food court

There is one omurice shop at Takashimaya basement 1 food court operated by Ajisen. I saw it long time back but never really eat it.

Yesterday, it was my first time trying. I was there during the lunch time. Not many people in the whole shopping centre. At 11am, the crowd has not come out for lunch, I guess. After walking one round, I settled on this omurice stall. There is no queue and I guess eating something different is what I am looking for.

Originally, I ordered the set with crab meat and some other seafood. But the auntie said sold out. End up I ordered the chicken cutlet with Japanese curry.


This is how it looks like. It cost $8 with $1 top up to get a green tea.

Actually, I wasn't expect a lot from this dish. Therefore I was pleasantly surprised that it is really good. I have had the omelet with rice at some other place that serve no purpose, but obviously this is not.

The fried rice is good, but not fantastic. The egg goes very well with the rice. It actually help to pull up the overall taste. The curry is tasty and the cutlet is crispy. Dip the cutlet into curry and go along with the rice and egg, that makes an excellent meal.

Meal @ New Green Pasture Cafe 新绿园有机养生料理坊

Today I am free. So I decided to try my auntie's recommendation. She told me this cafe inside the Fortune Centre level 4 selling organic meal. According to her, it is good. So, I set off to Bugis to try it out. After reaching there, I have no difficulty in finding the place. Since there is only one eatery on the level 4. There are many eatery selling vegetarian food in the same place. Not sure is because it is near the temple.

When I reached the shop, I step into the place and take a look at the menu. Today specials are pumpkin rice, penang laksa etc. Mind you, this is organic vegetarian cafe. Very quickly I made up my mind on the pumpkin rice set which cost $9.5.

The auntie told me to drink the soup, available to customer who purchase the meal. It is old cumcuber soup(老黄瓜汤). Inside the soup, there are plenty of cucumber, carrot etc. It taste good.

Very quickly my rice is ready. Here it is


Looks nice right? I was pleasantly surprised by the presentation.

Salad - Mix of red carrot, mang kuang, beet root, sprout, dou miao(豆苗). It is sweet and tasty.
Yellow stuff - Serious I don't really know what it is, but it taste alright
Mix vege - Mu er(木耳), corn, broccoli, carrot, shan yao(山药). Also taste good
Rice - Rice is cooked with chestnut, mushroom, pumpkin. So it is sweet and fragrant.

Beside the nice presentation, the whole meal is full of nutrition! The final verdict is of course a VERY GOOD.

If you are the vege person and don't mind paying a little bit more for premium stuff. This is definitely recommended.

Food for thought 2 - Golden shoe and Albert temp hawker centre

There is this famous Nasi Lemak at Golden shoe hawker centre. I went there during dinner time, around 7pm, they are still open.


I think this cost around 2 dollars only. It is simple and no frill. But taste good lah. What can you ask for?

Recently, the Albert hawker centre close down for renovation. I happen to pass by that day and stop to have some food. After going through the stalls twice, I settle on the following.


This bowl of curry mee cost $3. I think this is only one of the branch, I should have seen or eaten before some where else. It is good. The curry is fragrant and the white chicken is so tender, you would go back for more.


I went to the Zhen Jie dessert stall to order this Mango Sago. It looks good on the stall picture and also on the camera. Taste alright, but the problem is I don't see the sago! Quite funny right?

Food for thought 1 - Botak Jones, Nihon Mura

I looked at my phone camera photos just now, realised that there are quite a number of unposted pictures.

I went back to Botak Jones with different group of friends. These are what I had.


The signature Botak Burger. The portion is big and the ingredient is fresh(I supposed). It tasted good.


A close out on the Botak Burger. Looks tempting right?


This is what I had when I went there another time. The sausage is huge and I had difficulty to finish the whole set off. Don't try to order any side dish, in case you want to order set meal.

I just went with colleague last Friday, to have the fish burger. The fillet is special, so it taste good. But they scale down the portion already, maybe because of the recent cost escalation. However, don't worry, unless you have very big appetite. Otherwise, you would still feel very full.

On another occasion, I went to Nihon Mura. Since the sushi there is a big no no for me, I tried other dish.


Think this is one of the BBQ dish. Associated BBQ sticks with rice. There are chicken, prawn and mushroom sticks. Quite nice.

New Serangoon Central mall

It was in the news today. Serangoon is going to get a huge mall which is bigger than AMK Hub and Junction 8 combined. Following are the features:

24 hours retail and food outlet
10 screen cineplex
games arcade
pet lovers' enclave
big foodcourt
hypermarket
departmental store

The whole project is worth 1.3 billion.

Although I do not live there, but the news itself is interesting to draw my attention. Because where do you see a neighbourhood shopping centre which is this large? If you look at Lot 1 or old Northpoint, the floor area is actually very small. Maybe they think there is not many customer at the HDB.

I went to my friend's house at Kovan Melody. To my surprise, the Kovan mall has a huge crowd, although the mall itself is very very small. That might explain why are they building a big mall in Serangoon. Because there are many residents there? and the surrounding Ang Mo Kio, Bishan, Hougang would supply customer also?

Anyway, I think it would be a huge success when it is completed. By the time, financial crissis might already end and everybody is ready to spend again!

Do you go SITEX this year?

SITEX is coming very soon. Next Thu it would start at Singapore Expo. There are four shows all year round in Singapore. 3 months one show. Amazingly people have endless appetite for IT products.

Do you go SITEX this year? My thought is go only if you have things to buy. IT product get outdated so fast, it is pointless of chasing it. Better focus on need rather than want.

3 Scenarios

1. You want to buy something. Go there to shop around, should be able to get a great bargain.

2. You have nothing to buy but just want to window shop there. Most probably you bought something you don't really need but is cheap. Later, you just throw it aside.

3. You have nothing to buy and just wonder around for a whole afternoon. Then, what is the point going there? As a pass time?

So, the answer is quite simple.

Crocs sales at Expo, don't know what you want to call it

I saw the news on the web, Crocs is having their sales at Expo with a big discount. I never own a pair of Crocs and I am just curious why so many people like it. So, I went to check it out and possibly buy a pair to try it out.

When I reached Expo, I met a friend. He queued for 1 hour to get into the hall and 3 hours to pay for it!!



This is the main entrance, people are queuing to go into the hall. You might want to start queue up, but not until you see the next picture.



The queue went before the toilet and go into another hall.

After looking at this, I decided not to go in at all. No point, wasting my time queue for few hours to save 10 dollars only.

I think they really underestimate the response. There are simply not enough cashier to clear the backlog. Another interesting point is why so many people like it?

Ishi Mura at North point

Today was another fine Sunday. I picked up the Sunday Times to read. In the food section, there is a report about the new retail food concept. The interesting part is about a new japan themed food court in North point, Ishi Mura. So I decided to check it out.

I reach the place at 3pm, in order to avoid the crowd, but still there were many people. Of course, I have no problem finding my seat.



Look at the front door, it looks much like a restaurant than a food court. No wonder many people have doubts when going into it. But there are so many individual stall inside the shop selling all sort of Japanese cuisine. First you are spoilt of choice and second the price is really affordable. The only downside is the place is rather cramp.



After I went through one round, I decided to eat this Okonomiyaki. The chinese name should be 大阪烧， but the stall keeper call it 菜饼. No matter what, I ordered the seafood Okonomiyaki. If you need to know the mean of this dish, go and do a search. Some also call it Japanese pancake. It only cost 5.9 and it looks really good right?



I also ordered a drink, green tea at 1.5. Now, this looks like a complete meal set.

The pancake has lots of cabbage/lettuce, corn, egg, mayonnaise and seafood. It taste really nice, crunchy, juicy and full of taste. I think they are really spot on in opening this shop!

First use of stumble upon

Recently I have installed a service called stumble upon. It is like a user voting system on website. You would install a toolbar and select the topic that interested you. Whenever you click the stumble button, it would take you through a random website. You can choose like it or don't. The more you choose, the more accurate it gets.

It is interesting initially. But after a while, still get a little bit boring. Because the website is truly random and you are depending on other people's suggestion to discover new site. Might need to try it out more to decide whether to keep it.

Travel through park connector

Yesterday I decided to go cycling. There is a shop at Sun plaza park renting bicycle for $5 for 2 hours. I heard the lady say this is promotion. Buy 1 free 1. It is cheap. But, if it revert back to $5 for 1 hour, then it become expensive.

The parks at east side are all linked. I decided to see the pasir ris park first. Hence, I travel the following path:

Sunplaza park -> Pasir ris town park -> Pasir ris park

The journey is short, about 15min to reach the town park. But I cycle around to see the place. It has been a long time since I cycled for this long hour - 1.5 hours.

The Pasir risk town park is interesting. There are few fishing or prawning pond for people to fish. Inside the same park, there are restaurant also.

When I reach the pasir ris park, the path pass through the Downtown East area. I just realised that they are actually quite close. The pasir ris park is not so popular as east coast park. Some BBQ pits are empty. I think the no of ship also more than east coast park. However, it is still quite nice to go there and enjoy the holiday atmostphere and looking at people BBQ.

There is another part of the connector which would lead me to the Changi Beach. Given the limited time, it is left to next trip.

Keep adding the RSS feed

Had been quite busy recently, today still went to office in the morning. But, in the afternoon, managed to watch one movie and read other news.

Today, just installed the stumble upon toolbar. Quite an interesting website to discover new website. After that, I went to omy to browse other people's blog. Accidentally hit this chinese blog which talk about food. It is very good. From there, I linked to other blog competition website and managed to add in many blog feed into my rss reader.

Looks like my rss reading daily is going to increase a lot. Now, I already read about 300 post per day. Of course, for those heading I am not interested, then I just skip them. A bit information overloaded.

Browser war accelerated - Firefox 3, IE8, Chrome

People always say competition is a good thing. Looks like that's really the case with web browser. Remember the days where IE squeezed out Netscape, we are forced to rely solely on IE. There after, it came Mozilla with Firefox which "take back the web".

I have been using Firefox since version 1, till now, no regret. It is a piece of great work. The very recent firefox 3 even got a world record under belt. Compare to Firefox 3 vs IE7. Firefox is a clear choice. IE is too bloated, slow and more security problem. Although, browser like Opera, Safari are still in the game, the market share is still very small.

The entrance of Google might just change the game. They have come up with something new and relevant. They also got the marketing strategy right. That is to educate the user, what works behind the scene. Trying to get user to appreciate how good it is and cultivate the loyalty.

I just downloaded the Chrome browser, it looks pretty good and fast. Whether I would ditch my firefox remain to be seen. IE8 release is around the corner. Hopefully, as the competition intensified, we would get better user experience.

Melaka trip part 5 - Portuguese settlement

After a day of activities, evening has came and everybody head towards portuguese settlement for some seafood. The people there should be heir of portuguese. But they look quite localized already. I remember when I went there donkey years ago, there was only one stall. Now it operate like a zi char stalls.


Every stall owner trying to pull us away


Look, so many stalls, like hawker centre


We are eating beside the beach.


Can see sunset somemore


The first dish was the grill fish, looks good right?


Then, come the sambal chicken


Asam fish with lady's finger and others


The scallop was yummy


Steam fish


Finally, it is crab time. Just alright only.

After the meal, our Melaka trip ended and everybody heading home.

Melaka trip part 4 - Jonker walk, St Paul Hill

I didn't really finish on the chicken rice ball. So, here are some more pictures.


The coffee shop signboard. The first shop who come out with this dish


Rice ball on close up

Ok, after eating, it is time to move on. But, guess what happen, they went into another shop to eat again!


Look at what they have ordered.


Laksa in close up, it does look very yummy


Another bowl of cendol. But this time is the Durian cendol. Taste not nice.


If you walk down the Jonker street on day time, still get to buy more kueh.


Many shops selling the handycraft


Ok, now is some history about the street. Why it is called Jonker walk.

After eating so many things, everybody move back to Mahkota Parade again. Some people went sight seeing.


The St Paul Hill church. Some 400 years at least.




Good view from the top of the hill. You can see almost the whole Melaka city. Guess that's what make it special.

How much is Perdana maintenance cost?

Malaysia is a country full of surprises. Now, the hottest topic in the country is about Proton Perdana maintenance fee. The story started when Terrenganu government wants to buy Mercedes as official car. They argued the car is of poor quality and 4 years maintenance fee is about 117 million ringgit.

The figure is stunning. Anyone with a logical mind would immediately think it is enough to buy how many new cars already? Can the car maintenance fee go to this extent? I think most probably everyone would have a common answer. We hope the truth would be revealed eventually. How could maintenance fee cost so much?

Another interesting issue that it brought up is whether Proton car quality. Is it so poor in quality?

Togi korean restaurant

Last Friday, as part of friend gathering, we went to Togi korean restaurant at China town mosque street. It was suggested by my friend, otherwise I won't have go to korean restaurant, since I was never a fan of korean food.

When we sat down, they served the starter - some pickles. The taste was really good and if I remember correctly it is free flow. The tea also taste great. I didn't take any picture because too busy in eating.

I ordered a squid hot pot rice. Frankly, after tried some food court korean food, I feel hopeless regarding korean cuisine. But, when the rice is served, it really surprised me. The rice is full of squid and mixed with some red chili sauce. After mixing, it is ready to be eaten. The taste was great. Squid was tender and rice is full of flavour. It is worth every cents of the price ($9.8 I think). We also tried the fried ramen with rice cake, also very good.

The restaurant was opened by Korean owner. I guess that's the real taste of Korean food which is much much better. The restaurant offer authentic, delicious korean food which is light on the wallet. Thumb up from me.

Red Cliff - short review

I watched the Red Cliff last Friday night. It wasn't the original intention to catch it immediately, but due to the work stress, just want to watch a movie to sort of distress. So, I choose the red cliff directed by John Woo.

For the sake of following reason:
- One of the heaviest investment film
- Great battle scene

I wasn't with great expectation. The film did just alright. Because it is supposed to have part 1 and part 2. But, as the clock tick towards the end of show, I became worried. Where is the climate? True enough, it was an anti climate. That means as the movie goes into the 2.5 hours, it just stopped there and "to be continued..."

It is a total let down. It should have allow for at least a small climate before letting it continue into the part 2. Almost all my friends had the same feeling. Nevertheless, it is a must for watching part 2. So, not much choice.

Melaka trip part 3 - Dataran Pahlawan, Chicken rice ball

After sleep for one night, the next day we had the Melaka Da Pau for breakfast and set off to Mahkota Parade. There is a new shopping centre opposite it called Dataran Pahlawan.


Side view of the mall. It is a double storey building with shop at level 1 and open space at level 2.


We walked past the museum. Seems like not many people go there.


Old train


We walked pass the centre area again for the Chicken Rice ball.


Finally, we reach the Chung Wah coffee shop. This is the first coffee shop selling the chicken rice ball.


This is what we had. Frankly speaking, I was never a fan of chicken rice ball. The chicken just taste like any other hainanese chicken. The rice ball is expensive and not tastier than the usual rice. Why take so much trouble?

Causeway jam, afraid not?

Just came back from JB. The jam was quite amazing.

Yesterday 6pm plus, the cars were queuing to reach Singapore custom. I guess they need an hour to clear it. Today, the cars were queuing at the opposite direction. That means on the causeway to Singapore. Seriously I don't know what are the additional measures that they have put in to cause these. But, I think the people do get pretty frustrated.

So, driving to JB for cheap food and petrol might not worth the waiting time. In a way, it is good for environment also. Since people would cut down driving. Just a random thought, public transport in Singapore is as good as driving. But in JB, you don't have an option, but to drive. If public transport can be cheaper and faster, there is no reason people would want to drive.

Melaka trip part 2 - Wanton mee and satay celup

When I was in the pasar malam, I wanted to eat the char kueh on sell. It is really authentic road side food which looks, smell good. But, as we have dinner plan, therefore I didn't eat that.

We proceed to the satay celup store, but the queue was quite long. So, we decided to try the Melaka wanton mee, which my friend said very good.


This is what the wanton mee looks like. I think somehow every place has their own version of wanton mee. This mee obviously looks different from all combination I have tried so far. So, just give it a try. It doesn't really impress me actually. The mee is special, but the rest think that is too hard. Taste wise, just alright. Still like the Pontian wanton mee.


After the wanton mee, we went back to queue for satay celup. Other friend said die die must try. This is a 60 years shop which selling the satay steamboat. Meaning instead of clear soup, the base is actually peanut sauce. The queue was long. We waited nearly 1 hour.


Satay celup in action. Notice the pot on the table with satay peanut sauce? You put your stick of ingredient inside, until it is cooked. But, as you eat, it get messy and messier. Because the peanut sauce would spill onto the table more and more.

Melaka trip part 1 - Ole Sayang, Jonker Walk night market

The last Sat and Sun, went with colleagues to Melaka for a weekend tour. It was pretty fun, as we have car to move around and a local to bring us around. Know where are the good food place is great.

Here are some of the snapshot.


First we stop at the Ole Sayang restaurant. Famous for the nonya food.


We have prawn first. Not spicy.


Then, we have the sambal chicken which is pretty good. Especially the gravy.


Last, is of course a cendol to wrap up the meal.


When, we leave for the resort apartment. This is the countdown traffic light. Only found in Melaka.


Outside the window of the apartment unit. The sea is all yours.


We park the car near Mahkota Parade and walk past the centre area to Jonker Walk.


This is what we called Pasar Malam. Anything other than this is not really.


Pay $1 for the karaoke session


Hawker selling satay at the roadside. Yum yum.