Organic Haven - Bollywood Veggies

Poison Ivy @ Bollywood Veggies Hosted on Zooomr

It is a well-known fact that the owner of Bollywood Veggies is "high society lady", Mrs Ivy Singh-Lim. This consequently impacted on the image of the organic farm. Everything is very manicured here, and it is a far cry from its neighbour, Green Circle, another organic farm.

For the same reason, Bollywood Veggies isn't a farm that shies away from attention. And since everything here is all extra nice, extra proper, it makes a viable tourist attraction. And with visitors, there's Poison Ivy, a café probably named after the owner.

Poison Ivy serves up just about everything its farm produces. There's a wide variety of curry, vegetables, cakes, drinks and bananas. It wasn't meal time, so the Girlfriend and I ordered just the banana bread, jackfruit cake, lemon cake, lemon tea and fig tea.

While the portions were small, at $2 a piece, it was an opportunity to sample the menu.

The lemon cake was pretty refreshing with a unique spiciness to it. However, it did seem a little coarse on the palate.
The banana bread was made with the bananas harvested from the farm. It was fragrant, moist and spongy.
I liked the jackfruit cake best. While the portions were really miserable, the cake was more like a sticky kueh with lots of jackfruit bits in it. Plus it was served warm, which only enhanced the texture and taste.

The Girlfriend and I then "goondu-ly" walked into the farm area. Unbeknown to us, there was actually a price to pay to enter ($2). We only realized our boo-boo when we looked at the map and promptly returned to Poison Ivy. I doubt it would be fun to face a dagger brandishing Ivy.

An Interview with the Top Cat of Choa Chu Kang

Every time I walk the Girlfriend back to her home, I pass by this fat cat that rests along the sheltered walkway. Even more interesting is the way it stays undisturbed in its position despite the human traffic where it lies.

Me:	Hello, kitty.
Top Cat:	Hi human, I would prefer to be known as Top Cat, Fat Cat or Mr Cat, if you don't mind. Kitty is pretty demeaning to us cat-kind.
Me:	Very well, please accept my apologies. I shall address you as Top Cat.
Top Cat:	That is well appreciated, Mr Human. Meow~
Me:	How long have you been living in this area?
Top Cat:	It must have been 3 human years, I think.
Me:	How do you find the humans here?
Top Cat:	The cohabitants here are most kind. The younglings would pat me some times. There would be some nice people who come by with some food for me. Occasionally, there would be nasty humans who think it is funny to kick a cat.
Me:	How do you prevent yourself from that kind of abuse?
Top Cat:	At first it was rather nerve-wrecking whenever I got shoved around. But I soon I realised that they wouldn't dare to strike with the intention to kill as there are other people around all the time. There will be people with pushcarts around that area keeping watch as well. Anyone who tried anything funny would have to deal with those people with pushcarts. Next, it was not to react to such things because your reaction is what encourages them to do those things. I chose not to react, not to be afraid, not to be intimidated. Eventually, No human tried anything funny.
Me:	I can see that. You are lying right in the middle of the covered walk way and you are not even perturbed by the human activity!
Top Cat:	The humans around have come to accept and welcome my presence as I accept and welcome them.
Me:	Tell me about your typical day.
Top Cat:	I'm more active at night as all cats. I do move around a bit, contrary to what most humans perceive. It is just that you see me mostly during the day, which is rest time. I get offered food during the day. There will be rice usually, sometimes there will be desserts like cake.
Me:	While on the topic of food, what's your favourite?
Top Cat:	Poultry, chicken would be ideal. Desserts are good too. And if you might noticed, I much larger than the average cat. I like to think I'm the localised version of Garfield, just not as well known.
Me:	That's a good one.
Top Cat:	No, that's being unashamed of attracting attention.
Me:	Right you are. And you have captured our attention very well. Thank you, Mr Cat. It has been a pleasure interviewing you.
Top Cat:	And I like the attention. Meow~

A Minor Day Surgery

I had this "nodule" on my right forearm for over a year now. It started out with a minor ruptured pimple of sorts. But that small wound never healed. I consulted a doctor and was referred to the National Skin Centre. The recommendation by the specialist was to excise it and be sent for testing.

I arrived at National Skin Centre a little late. Thanks to all the missing taxis. They either never appear during off-peak hours, go blind during those times or are on call. I have serious doubts about those "On Call" statuses. For that extra $2.50, I have to say that they are unscrupulous.

Anyway, there is this thing about going to have a piece of my flesh surgically cut out of me. It is oddly fascinating, scary but exciting. That, and the inevitable scar that will be in the place of the nodule. It's like, "I'm gonna have a scar! And scars are fierce! Woohoo~!"

So it started out with some local anesthetic, which really weird. First prick of the needle hurt slightly. Then everything went numb, but I felt the needle again. Curiosity got the better of me and I lifted my head to take a look. Goodness. The doctor didn't just "stab" me once, he took multiple stabs. At that moment I told him that it was somewhat morbidly amusing to see him taking so many shots. He chuckled, maybe in agreement?

Then he and the assisting nurse covered the rest of my arm with those green surgical bib kind of thing with that hole to show the little lump. The doctor announced that he was starting and proceeded to sink the scalpel into the numbed area. I could feel the pressure and the movement of the blade through the skin, but without any pain. It was weird to say the least. Almost like an out-of-body experience. And I even asked if I could watch while he literally cut a piece of flesh out of me. He advised against that, explaining that it might make me uncomfortable. Oh well, doctor's orders.

Moments later, he stopped his cutting and I lifted my head off the pillow to take a peek. All I saw was a gaping wound about the size of the a 20 cent coin. At that point I exclaimed, "Wah, doctor! You cut a crater out ah?"

"Well, I had to cut that thing out cleanly."

"Oh, ok. Just didn't expect a crater, really."

The doctor then proceeded to stitch me up. First, an internal stitch with a white colored thread that would actually be absorbed by the body. Then an external stitch with blue nylon-like thread. While he was at it, I could feel the tension of the skin being drawn together by thread. Again, it felt pretty odd.

The doctor took quite a while stitching up that crater as he needed to stitch up something internally with the soluble white thread. Since the white thread was used, I related an article about those stents to used to support collapsed arteries. From the soluble ones to the drug-coated and the original ones. It sort of passed the time and distracted me from the idea of being cut up at my own free will.

So that was my experience under the knife.
Morbidly fascinating.
Not to mention that I'm pretty excited about the scar, I think...

Uniquely Singapore N93

This only proves that you only need Hokkien to make a spoof appreciated by all Singaporeans!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQrMvtchYSc

I made money from the web...

Well, it's really prize money for writing about food at hungrygowhere.com.

Anyway, my tips for you are:

1. Include an actual picture of yourself.
2. Fill in your particulars, especially contact particulars.
3. Blog truthfully. If you hate the food, say so. Don't write like you were bribed to do it.
4. Don't write like you have nothing better to say.

Good Luck!

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