Yesterday, I went out with my trusty camera, in search of a shot for a new project I’m undertaking. More on that later.  But I knew one of the places I could find that shot I need was somewhere I used to spend a lot of my growing years in.

In the heart of Tanjong Pagar, the first public swimming pool in Singapore opened it’s doors 57 years ago.  According to the National Library archives, visitors to Yan Kit Swimming Complex used to pay 15 cents per entry.  And it was so damn popular that two-hour limits were imposed on swimmers.  On Tuesdays, it was only open to women, who were too shy to appear in their bathing suits in front of men.

Today, eights years after it’s 2001 closure, what little remains there is a mere ghost of her former self.  I remember spending hot saturday afternoons playing in the pool.  I remember getting my toes cut on the cracked tiles that line the walls of the pool.  I remember diving into the deep end, only to get my ass hauled out by the lifeguard because we weren’t allowed to do “cannonballs”.  Of course, we’d do it again once he’s not looking.

I took a few pictures as a loving tribute to that pool, and posted them here.  If this place was ever part of your memories, you might want to go pay a visit before it’s totally demolished.  If you have no idea where I’m talking about, then I still hope you enjoy the pictures.

I’ve hesitated talking about chicken rice on this blog because many Singaporeans have their favorites and defend it zealously.  I’m a big fan of chicken rice and I’m really sick and tired of consuming mediocre excuses of this quintessentially Singapore dish.  

What’s worst is that some of these bad ones are reviewed “favorably” by certain food reviewers.

I’m no culinary expert, just someone who loves his food passionately so in the light of sharing, I’ve finally mustered enough courage to say:

My favorite chicken rice stall in Singapore is Heng Ki Chicken Rice in Chinatown Market, #02-131.

There, I said it.

Better still, here’s a picture.

Heng Ki Chicken Rice

Let me tell you why it’s my favorite.  

Chicken rice has three main components – Chicken and rice (duh), and the chili.  A good plate of chicken rice absolutely has to do well in all three.  Before I go on to describe (and defend) why Heng Ki is good, let me first disclaim and say that Heng Ki’s chicken rice is unashamedly full-flavored.  If you’re looking for plain white meat with rice that merely tickles your taste buds, stop reading now.  Or if you belong to the health conscious group who constantly grumbles how unhealthy a dish this is, please go read some salad reviews.  The following is not for you.

You have been warned.

Let’s start with the chicken.  The chicken in most chicken rice is prepared in more or less the same way.  And I guess any other way other than boiled would just be odd.  But after it’s hacked up and served on plate, Heng Ki’s really shines.  The fowl is doused in a generous mixture of soy sauce and what looks like liquified chicken fat kept warm in a mini-slow cooker by the chopping board.  Now don’t underestimate what a soya sauce and chicken fat does in terms of flavor.  I’ve had chicken dressed from a range of oyster sauce to “rose-flavored” sauce.  I think that masks the flavor of the chicken more than enhancing it.  Back to Heng Ki, the meat itself is moist because it’s a little undercooked, which you can tell from the meat still a little red near the bones.  This is good because if it’s cooked thoroughly through, the meat will be tough and dry.  Moist and tender beats dry and tough any time.

The Rice.  I’ve had chicken rice rice that ranged from plain to overambitious.  Heng Ki’s rice is prepared pretty much the same way – rice with ginger, pandan leaves and the chicken broth after boiling the chicken.  They’ve added one extra ingredient.  Good guess – chicken fat.  The rice is oily, just like any decent chicken rice should be but not too oily.  You can detect the distinct aroma of chicken on the rice which really works for me.  And though a technicality, I also enjoy the fact they serve in bowls instead of plates.  It just feels a little more authentic shoving chunks of meat and rice into your mouth with chopsticks compared to arranging everything neatly onto spoons, but that’s just me.  By default, they serve you their 30 cents portion which I find a little too small, so if you’re a slightly bigger eater, ask for the large which costs 50 cents.  Or you could do what I do and order one large and one small for 80 cents.

The chili.  To me, this is the ultimate test for a good chicken rice because this is the ultimate differentiator that separates the mediocre from the divine.  To those who know me (yes, all three of you) will know that I’m not a big chili fan because I do prefer the original flavor of food rather than nuking it with heat.  Even for chicken rice, I tend to moderate my chili consumption to just have enough to give the meat a kick without overpowering the chicken.  Broadly speaking, there’s two types of chicken rice chili.  The first is plain spicy, and the second is spicy cut with a slight sourness with the addition of lime juice.  Heng Ki’s chili on the other hand, has three distinct flavors – spicy, sweet and sour.  The sweetness is not a background flavor, in fact I dare say it’s the first flavor to hit you before the spiciness and sour kicks in.  Breaking it down, it’s about 30% sweet, 50% spicy and 20% sour, in that order when you taste it.  The sour is not the citrus kind of sour, but from vinegar.  Eating it together with the salty, soya sauced chicken completes the spectrum of flavor that makes the Heng Ki offering so unique compared to the rest.

The prices are pretty reasonable too.  As above, the rice itself is 30 or 50 cents, and for half a chicken it’ll set you back $10.  The stall is open from 3 to 9pm, but by 7pm, they’re just about sold out for the day.  The stall is unassuming with no fancy lights or cut outs of newspaper reviews whatsoever and the best part, it’s run by three warm and friendly folks, unlike other chicken rice stalls which I shall not name here.  So if you’re ever in the area, do swing by and give it a try because if you made it to this part of the post, I’m sure you’ll like it as much as I do.

The saga continues.

According to autosport.com, Red Bull now thinks that static from the MRT caused Webber’s gearbox to malfunction, causing him to lose the race. Team principal Christian Horner was quoted as saying:

It was exactly what [Toro Rosso] suffered from with (Sebastien) Bourdais in Friday practice, at exactly the same place. A tram line runs beneath the track at that corner and it seems as if static from a passing tram at the very moment Mark was in the corner passed through the ground.

SMRT has rebutted this claim by saying:

1. There is no train passing under Turn 13 where the incident occurred.
2. The nearest train was 200 meters away.
3. The train was at a depth of 10 meters.
4. Train wheels and rails are made of metal and thus don’t generate static electricity during operation.

Time for a quick science lesson for Mr. Horner:

Every atom and molecule in everything around us are electrically balanced, meaning they have the same number of positive and negative charges, or if you prefer, protons and electrons.  Some matter hold on to their electrons better than others and the order of their charge separation is reflected in their position on the Triboelectric Series. Human hands are highly positive and metals like steel carry virtually no charge.

When two non-conducting materials come together, a chemical bond known as adhesion happens and depending on the triboelectric properties of the material, one matter might capture some of the loose electrons of the other – causing a charge to build up.  When this happens, an imbalance occurs.  Nature hates imbalances so upon contact with something uncharged, it’ll discharge and restore itself.  

So for static electricity to build up, one needs to be positively charged and one needs to be negatively or not charged.  Rubbing your hands together will not produce static electricity.  Steel against steel will not produce static electricity.  

Back to topic, even if there was static electricity at Turn 13, I doubt any would have traveled into the race car and screw up the gearbox because the rubber tyres would have conducted that.  

In conclusion, I don’t think it’s scientifically possible for a Train to produce static electricity.  Even if by some unexplained possibility that it did, it couldn’t have gone through 10 meters of tar and road 200 meters away and managed to discharge onto a vehicle with rubber tyres.

Good try Mr Horner.  If you’re so sure it’s the static, then open up your gear box and show the damage.  Prove what you said had actually happened and maybe I might believe you. 

I wonder who’s the next losing team that will point fingers at Singapore again.

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo criticized Singapore’s inaugural night race after Massa and Raikkonen’s failed to take any top 3 spots.  He was quoted as saying:

Unfortunately when we race on tracks where staging a circus or something else would be better, anything can happen, because the spectacle is supplied by the safety car.

I thought I’ve seen sore losers, but this one takes the cake.

According to Wikipedia, this guy has a net worth of 400 million dollars, comes from an aristocratic family, has a law degree and is the vice-president of a football club.  But he still whines like a little 8 year-old kid who didn’t get to ride first or second on the playground see saw.  

I’m not remotely patriotic, but I didn’t think we deserved a comment like that, especially from someone of his stature.  Mr Ferrari President also said that street circuits like Singapore and Valencia were bad for the sport and he wants to “talk about this with all the other teams”, and he even went as far as saying the race was “humiliating for F1″.

What Mr Whine-alot failed to recognize is all the effort and money our little island state spent on making the F1 happen (and not to mention the obscene amounts of money that went to F1 and the teams).  According to LTA, a total of $23.8 million was spent on the infrastructure, and all the works were approved by the FIA three months before the race. So what is Mr. Crybaby complaining about?

We know he had previously bitched about the FIA for a tyre fiasco in 2005, instead of blaming Michelin.

Maybe because Michelin had business dealings with Ferrari?

Before this, I thought what’s uniquely Singapore is the ability of our people to complain about everything.  I believe we met our match.  I think “Staging a circus” are very strong words which in my opinion is totally uncalled for.

If Singapore was trying to stage a circus, then he and his pit clowns should be wearing red noses when they return next year after the screw up when Massa was in the pit.  

Mr President, If your team fucked up then don’t blame the track lah.  

With this loss, Ferrari is now behind McLaren in the Constructor’s standings.  Will Ferrari end up as the whining winning team at the end of the season?

Boo hoo.

Apple released iTunes 7.7 today. Updating your iTunes simply prepares you for the new iPhone 3G about to be released.

If you click around the iTunes store, you will notice that the Singapore Store is up and running.

However, a quick glance will tell you that the Singapore store only contains apps that run on the iPhone and iPod Touch. No music, no videos. Bleah.

Well, at least its a step in the right direction. There’s a couple of free apps, like the Apple Remote that lets you use your iPhone to control iTunes or AppleTV. For social networkers, there’s also a Facebook app, and a Twitter app.

For gamers, there’s a whole catalogue of casual games to keep you busy on your MRT ride. Prices of apps cost between $0.00 to $9.99, which I think is pretty reasonable.

We’re now one milestone closer to the actual launch in Singapore. I’m definitely holding my breath for this one. Now I just wished that when they do launch, the store would have music and videos.