Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Of beef, meat and health

 Another year gone by, reaching perhaps the mid-point of a person's life?

In terms of fitness regimes, I've been 'trying' to be active for perhaps the longest time, going for jogs here and there, gymming too. I turned more serious during the NUS undergraduate years, trying out a few bithalons and triathlons and ultimately a full Marathon i think in ~2007?. After/in between it was the start of a long and fascinating insight into the world of Yoga, courtesy of my lovely wife Wenhui. We've been through many classes, teachers, schools and are still loving and practising yoga regularly. I've also had a 'gymming' regime in 2002-2003, trying out proteins and stuff.

Being a little sick of endurance races (previously joining, so as to force myself to train), now i can do my own biathlons, or long runs on my own. A person's drive can only be from self-motivation, fear, peer pressure, peer support or a combination of the above.

And most recently, getting to know a certain MLM's regime, as well as the reading of say modern diets, we've bought a slow-juicer (juicing ~3 times a week), and I'm doing the lower-carbs  / attempt for 6-meal-/day. Living 'healthy' has never been so 'updated' in my life. Always one to ask questions, being skeptical, I do question the validity of such regimes given the relatively short life-spans of humans, compared to the popularity of such programs. Nevertheless, most adhere to some degree of existentialism and we do indeed live for the moment in more ways than we would consciously think of. Hence a small note to self, on the rough starting date of the current program.

Andante
On my birthday this year, I did think of trying something different, some sort of a 'old love'. Remembering the fond memories of my mom bringing me to Ponderosa for a then 'very expensive' tenderloin steak', it triggered again that the question if I do love/like this dish. Reading mouth-watering reports of the famous Wolfgang Puck's CUT over and over + the arrival of Kobe A5's grade beef, it was sort the alignment of the stars which I had to go to make the pilgrimage. Having preferred seafood, Japanese cuisine (Cue Shinji), French food (cue Au Jardin), Chinese cuisine (cue imperial, jade, and many other 'treasures), it's difficult to imagine an equivalent fine dining in the 'USA' way. Having had wagyu on a few occasions, (and loving it), the sight of a huge plomp of meat in front of one seemed to attempt to challenge me to finish it. The A5 was tender, smooth, cooking even, no sauces were necessary. It wasn't 'melt-in your mouth' special even though I chose the "Migon", the most tender portion. Previous waygu as well as premium Japanese Hida-beef were more memorable (perhaps in smaller portions and lower expectations).  The ambience was very dark, the chatter, overwhelming.

Presto
I was bloody full after the dinner (after finishing the highly recommended pork belly as starters). I'm sure I've exceeded my quota for animal fats for the month, and need another (or two) biathlons to cleanse it out of the system.

I wouldn't go back to CUT anytime soon, and if I do, it'll be on some sharing basis for the meat.







Monday, December 31, 2012

2012 Reflections





A magnificent 2012. Again, plenty of highs.

Travels:
January Shanghai/Ningbo
June/July Amsterdam/France
Sept/October Germany/Italy

Concerts wise, Roxette was pretty much the top of the year. With Lisa Ono flopping and Sting very good.

Wines, pretty hard to match this year, with visits to Champagne, Burgundy, Piendmonte with mentions to DRC (yes...we were there!), Munier, Gaja and many more.

Italy 2012 brought many more 'ticks' in the bucket list. Going flat out on Monza F1 circuit (in a MacLaren MP4-12C), visits to Paganni, Lamboghini factories and Ferrari museums, driving a race trim F430 in a race track, eating spaghetti 'bolognase', drinking coffee in Milan and more!

Other mentions is the opening of RDP retail store in Funan, after months and months of preparation, it has finally become reality and we have a long 2013 to go!

Olympics 2012 was awesome, Bolt did the impossible-to-repeat-in-this-lifetime triple, Armstrong was stripped of his 7-time, one of the most grippling F1 seasons, as well as BPL with Man City beating Man U in the final seconds of the league. Paquaio losing finally. One FC,UFC and MMA in general throwing up plenty of great matches. Sports doesn't get more crazy in a calender year.

What's there to look forward in 2013? More hybrid cameras, more sporting clashes, more great wines, great business ventures.

*CLINK* Cheers!

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Italy 2012 day 2/3: MOre wines!

Day 2, end of days, Cavalotto, one of the most breath-taking vineyards yet. Cresting a ridge along the holiest of the King of Wines - Barolo! We arrived at Cavalotto almost during sunset, a pretty difficult place to find! Attached are great introduction to the wines, big barrel fermentation, classic titanium cork-screw openers!!



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 Day 3, another day of wine!! Arrived at Elvio Cogno ON TIME, with Elizabeth of Praleum. Heritage building, fantastic views, an adorable cat (soft fur, has appetite for grass!), investment in 'sqaure' steel fermentation tanks (very expensive), creation of Elena wine--> A top tier wine in the estate named after Cogno's daughter ; her drawing is found the bottles!, blending of varietals at the time of crushing instead of after fermentation, discarding entire crop if quality is not up to part, lovely wines, lovely wine marker, dream estate!









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 The last of the visits, Bruno Rocca. Had high hopes for this as their Maria Adelaide left a good impression on me earlier. Their Rabaja wines are also pretty famous. The vineyard and cellars doesn't look as impressive as others we have been, and perhaps were also also tired out from the vineyard hopping! Bruno and Luisa were really friendly to share the philosophy in their wine making. ;)

and it was off to Levanto, a long long long winding drive into one of the rainiest terrain I've ever experienced. Reaching the location in the dark, what an experience....watch out!

Tuesday, November 06, 2012

Hida Beef, Oiishi ne!

What is happiness? It's usually an accumulation of satisfying one's senses. We were at Oiishi Japan 2012 exhibition at MBS. Hida beef's store was there. There was tasting a three time slots and 10 minutes before each session, there was already a 15 man queue waiting patiently for the master to start cooking the beef. Cute in squares and thinly sliced, the steak was panned cooked for a few minutes, before hosting onto serving plate and a dose of brown salt later, it was happiness sloshing around my mouth. Flavours, textures, soft but doesn't melt and disppear in your mount, just the right amount of 'bounciness' . Simple. Awesome. Mind-blowing!

Went for a second round, no regrets, happiness was spelled H-I-D-A-BEEF that day....

Sunday, November 04, 2012

Bistro Soori

 Bistro Soori!! Scallops, Duck Confit, Pandan souffle, salad with blue cheese, lovely place. ;)



Saturday, October 27, 2012

Lisa Ono 2012 Live at Kallang Theater

Lisa Ono, 2012. one of the famous 'Girl from Ipanema', with airy voice, great rendition of Jobim classics and other Brazilian styled Bossa Novas. This was her 3rd time here in Singapore and our first concert to Lisa Ono. Shown at the Kallang Theater, the place seemed frozen in time, we have completely forgotten how the place looked like as the last time we went was possibly during the 1990s during the Les Miserables, Cats, Miss Saigon era. The stage look really small (we're too used to Esplanade Theater?), and the acoustics were poor but sound mixing made it worse. Maybe due to our seats (quite far stage left as seen from the image), the players nearer to us, (Flautist / Saxaphonist and percussionist), were impossibly loud and Lisa's guitar was non-existant. Scenes of Brazil / beach / was shown at the big screen/ projection behind the band for certain songs and they're reminiscent of poorly done Karaoke tapes of the 90s. The biggest disappointment of all was Lisa Ono. Her pitching was way all over the place. It literally hurts to listen ...*sob*. She tried to do covers on Bengawan Solo, Rasa Sayang, Ye Lai Xiang to add on the the woes. Singing seemingly completely from scores, she might have focused on the pronunciation and completely forgotten the dynamics. The 2nd song of the encore (some chinese song!!) was much worse....we were trying to 'switch off' our ears...

I love Lisa's studio albums, but the 'live' episode couldn't have been worse. I had to get home to listen to some 'proper music' to align myself back. This adds on poor Bossa Nova (which I really love..) live concerts. Lisa Wahlandt, Ana Caram, Olivia Ong, have great studio recordings but their live sets fall mostly flat. Past greats which we'll never see again include Louis Armstrong, Shirley Horn, Ella Fitzgerald, Astrud Gilerberto and one of the favourties, Eva Cassidy!!!!

Now I'm hesitant to have high hopes for other Jazz / Bossa artists. We look forward to Stacey Kent, Diane Reeves (the very best concert we've ever been for Jazz),  Sara K, Norah Jones, Noon, Emi Fujita, Janet Seidel, Alison Krauss!!

Till the next Jazz concert, !



Sunday, October 21, 2012

Italin wines: Barbarescos and Barolos!




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After a whirlwind drive,and arriving in Piedmont region in the dark. It was time for dinner. It was at l'osteria Bel Teatro amd we had, Tagliere di formaggi amongst a fabulous chicken flavoured entree (can't remember the dish for this). The pasta was heavenly, with Pio Cesare Barbera which was smooth and easy to go with food. The desert Panna Cotta  was out of this world, and the phrase 'MMmmmmmm' couldn't have been more apt!

It was rise and shine and straight to our first tasting of the trip, at Matteo Correggia! Located at the Roero region, it is not as widely known as Barbaresco and Barolo but Roero region is slowly gaining recognition.




Chalk beneath the house, constantly moist and at a cool temperature, the idea conditions for wine!

 
 Impressive line up as well as strong family tradition in the Correggia family with Giovanni (third from left), slowing taking over the role as wine maker!



The next stop: Gaja. Located at Barbaresco town, there is literally just one street cutting across the slopes. With just 600 inhabitants, this is one of the smallest towns in Italy (or in the world?) and Angelo Gaja is famous for all things Italian wine. Angelo is fourth generation in the line of Gajas and he has perhaps made the most significant contribution of them all by introducing cutting edge techniques in the vineyard and in the cellars. Believing that only the best will do, Gaja would conduct green harvest of 50% or more of the crop, to the disbelief of their neighbours. Gaja has also refused to vinify grapes if he thinks it's no up to his standard. Other idiosyncrasies included introduction of Red worms from USA to aid soil regeneration as well as planting crops closer than the norm to encourage them to compete. Gaja also experimented with new world varietals such as Cabernet Sauvignon much to the dismay of his Dad Giovanni (but Gaja senior let Angelo experiment anyway).The famous wine is called Darmagi, which translate to 'what a shame' or 'pity', mentioned frequently by Gaja senior!