YESS!!!!

i finally have broadband @ home!

and it's the fastest available @ 100 MBPS as well...so it's a quantum leap from the dead slowness of a 56kbps dial up (yes i noe i noe...)...from a bicycle to a ferrari so to speak...and my oh my it's fast...

now i can keep up with RCC madcap conversations, download copious amounts of muzak/vids and actually watch Youtube, all from home with ease...vunderbar!

should have done this a long time ago...silly boi...

dinner last night @ st pierre...

...was good to a certain extent but it might just have been a little too avant garde and nouveau cuisine for my somewhat earthy tastes...overall it merits a considered 7-1/2 outta 10 in my book...

it was a degustation menu of 10 smallish courses which still left me stuffed to the gills at the end of the 3 hours of dining...yowzer!


dégustation menu

AMUSES BOUCHE
assorted nibble platter to whet the appetite (foie gras creme brulee, polenta topped with spiced veggies, smoked salmon topped with ikura roe, aged cheese on a tomato gelatin topped with arugula)
*
SAUMON MI-FUME
half-smoked salmon tataki, fresh wasabi infused argan oil, kombu julienne, tarbais beans and raw mushroom dressing scented with roasted piquillos the salmon was half-seared and half-smoked and fantastic to taste...really top-notch!
*
COQUILLE SAINT JACQUES GRILLEE
grilled hokkaido scallops on gold leaf with tomato and oba leaf salsa, caramelised shallots, summer beet cloud and gold spherification the scallops were sweet as sugar and fresh from the sea...what more could one want? perfect!
*
SALADE DE FONDUE DE BOEUF
salad of shabu shabu wagyu beef tenderloin with shavings of gorgonzola, tomato-sesame dressing and organic watercress leaf the wagyu was simply divine and baby's ass-tender...
*
TERRINE DE FOIE GRAS
oak and macha smoked foie gras terrine with caramelised mango, tartine of toasted pain d’epice, mango espuma and basil oil alright i guess, i was not too enamoured of the terrine cos i prefer the actual foie gras itself...the terrine just didn't have a OOOMPH of the real thing and i personally do not like foie gras cold...
*
SORBET
*
EPAULE D’AGNEAU CONFITE
low temperature braised lamb shoulder with citrus zest and organic apricot, warm salad of edamame, piquillos, cauliflower couscous, chorizo and reduced jus infused with argan oil and fresh coriander mrs kona took this..she found it a tad bit on the dry side even though it was braised...the chorizo tasted strangely like otar to me

OR...

THON ET HAMACHI
seared japanese hamachi and blue fin tuna with sushi of tomato confit, mozzarella cheese, romaine leaves, pine nuts salsa, mini bouchon potatoes, lemon tuile, taggia tapenade and bonito granite only 1 word for the fish...stupendous! the pine nut salsa was seriously quite odd though...but the bouchon potatoes more than made up for it...
*
ASSORTIMENT DE DESSERT
campari granite with confit of grapefruit, poached peach with pistachio financier, raspberry with ivory chocolate mousse the granite was refreshingly bitter and the poached peach simply erupted with sweetness...
*
AFTER-EIGHT
classic grandma Stroobant flourless belgian chocolate cake remixed a perfectly chocolately end to a fine meal

have been too busy...

...to blog this week so far...been out a lot on work on-site and by the time i get back, i am avalanched with work-related issues/emails blah blah...

anyway, going to st pierre's for dindin 2nite courtesy of my darling...for my birthday this weekend...looking forward to a good meal and to spending some quality time with her...

LMFAO!!!

A guy goes to the supermarket and notices an attractive woman waving at him. She says hello. He's rather taken aback because he can't place where he knows her from. So he says, "Do you know me?"

To which she replies, "I think you're the father of one of my kids."

Horrified, his mind flashes back to the only time he has ever been unfaithful to his wife and says, "My God, are you the stripper from my bachelor party that I made love to on the pool table with all my buddies watching while your partner whipped my butt with wet celery???"

She looks into his eyes and says calmly, "No, I'm your son's teacher."

germanic engineering...

...rocks!!!

check out what i mean below...

even after you see it, it's still mind-boggling...a water bridge in germany...taking a whole 6 years and 500 million(!!!) euros to build and spanning 918 meters, this is german engineering at its finest...this photo was taken on the day of inauguration...

this is a channel-bridge over the river Elbe, located in the city of Magdeburg (near Berlin) joins the former East and West Germany as part of the unification project...

to those who appreciate engineering projects, here's a puzzle for you armchair engineers and physicists...

did that bridge have to be designed to withstand the additional weight of ship and barge traffic, or just the weight of the water?











Answer:
it only needs to be designed to withstand the weight of the water! why? a ship always displaces an amount of water that weighs the same as the ship, regardless of how heavily a ship may be loaded.

toe, camber, caster

the 3 important alignment parameters of a car's chassis...absolutely crucial to good handling...read more HERE...

noticed that lexi was pulling slightly right at speed when the steering wheel was dead-straight and since she was squatted only a couple of days back, figured it would be prudent to send her in to have the alignment checked out... toe was out, camber was negative, caster within specified limits...so she was hoisted up and had to toe set to neutral...can't do much on the camber as it is not adjustable unless i plonk in a camber kit and 99% of car can't adjust the caster angle...oh well...

note to self - figure on buying a camber kit for lexi

saw lexi's big badass brudder...

...on wednesday night whilst parking her at the kallang squash & tennis centre. i looked up and there he was in all his glory...a genuine STI S204, the badass STI to end all STIs...immediately identifiable due to those special custom-made by BBS Japan rims for subaru and that schweet schweet mid-mount spoiler...


of course i scuttled over post-haste to drool at/over it...couldn't help it, could i???


closeup of those gorgeous BBSJ rims backed by the gold of the brembo 4-pots


the badges of cult status


that beautiful spoiler...I WAN I WAN!!!

euro rice

...i mean...what the flying fish was he thinking? at least 5 scoops...probably got the aerodynamic efficiency of a brick....good grief!

the '07 emmys are here and gone...

...and this season's pre-parties/awards/post-parties have thrown up some doozies of outfits worn by the ladies...

ali looks wonderful even goddess-like, eva looks like the fabulous little mynx she is, hayden looks frumpy in that empress-cut dress, ellen looks damn weird in her helmet-like hairdo, jen love hewitt looks delicious, jennifer morrison makes me hot, marcia cross shows off a spectacular rack, roselyn sanchez has a damn fit bod and stacy keibler's legs just go on and on...

who are your faves?

fullerton@nite

whilst waiting for mrs kona to get off work last night, decided to use my cellphone to take a few shots of the fullerton hotel...quite magnificent a facade ya?

a well-conceived and meticulously implemented rejuvenation for the grand old dame...one of these days, i really have to return with my DSLR for a go at it again...

the effect on my rear end...

some friends have wondered if the car's suspension is any harder with the new EIBACH springs...as a general rule of thumb, the shorter the spring (hence the lower ride height), the stiffer it has to be to compensate for the loss in length so as not to hit the bumpstops of the suspension under hard driving...

well, am glad to report that, although the eibachs are stiffer, subjectively-speaking it is at most a 10% deterioration in the ride quality and i really had to strain and listen to my butt's feedback to catch this increased stiffness...

thank heavens for progressive springs

she's squatted

installed the EIBACH Pro-Kit lowering springs for lexi today...a smallish drop of about 35mm with these progressive springs...

happy man...
wallet of mine tho, not so happy...