bLog By Pixels: photography

Showing posts with label photography. Show all posts

5 April 2008

B Bakery - A Quaint Little Find

Some time back I visited this quaint little restaurant (less than 10 tables inside and 4 outside) in Bussorah Street which is within the Arab Street network for a friend's birthday dinner. The food was pretty decent and I liked the fact that the owners took effort to ask for the group's (10 of us) food order in advance so that they can handle the orders, as well as providing a non-public menu for our selection. Not too sure if this menu is now printed, so when you do go, ask the staff about it.

The food was served rather quickly thanks to good planning by the restaurant even for such a small group. These are what I managed to try.

Grilled Vegetables & Hummus Platter - $5

A very interesting starter. Deceptively simple in preparation. All the vegetables used were grilled just right for that soft mashable texture. Though some of the vegetables were quite badly charred, like the onion on the 9 o'clock position. But still worth the mention was its surprising sweetness and the absence of spiciness. The hummus in the middle was great with the default basket of bread. A colourful, cheerful, healthy appetiser. I do wish that the portion would be larger. But at $5, maybe I will order 2.

Water Melon, Feta Cheese & Rocket Salad - $5

I almost forgotten about photographing this! Nevertheless, I must say is is a wonderful salad that cleverly combined watermelon with feta cheese. The strong taste of the former was nicely complimented by the refreshing crunch and sweetness of the latter. Both together made the salad eating extra enjoyable and fun. Clearly another happy and comforting dish.

Braised lamb shank in wine sauce, mashed potato, sauteed vegetables - $20

What's this thing about braised lamb shank that every restaurant seems to be serving? Not that I am complaining, though. Anyway, the one here tasted pretty much like every other decent braised lamb shank with exception to the wine sauce which tasted sharper and might take a little getting used to. The fibres of meat could have been more tender and moist, but if the texture is your thing, it was done just right. I do wish the lamb shank had a little bit more of the tendons though.

Salmon papilote (oven baked in paper), vegetables, capers - $18

The salmon was nice, moist and flaky thanks to the way it was prepared. Unfortunately, zesty sauce used was not necessarily the best thing to go along with it, in my opinion. The saltiness from the pickled capers masked taste the fish by a bit too.

As for ambience, I like it for being small, quiet and personal. Perhaps the name, B Bakery also wanted to suggest its humility.

Lastly, the recommendation is to make reservations and order in advance as their inventory for dinner is quite limited.

Also note that they are open for dinner from Thursdays to Saturdays, 6pm - 10pm only.

1 April 2008

The Rakes - Who needs radio when you've got indie?

I like indie (independent) music. It is always effortlessly refreshing. Here is a genre where there are no rules and no restrictions, just the love of making music. Other descriptive terms include experimental, unconventional, quirky, fun, original. Well, you get the idea.

But with major record companies hogging the frequencies, it is rare that we hear music from indie artists, unless they were signed and groomed for stardom by the record labels. Which is why it is great that Heineken Green Room have started bringing in refreshing indie gigs to their parties. This time, Heineken Green Room literally flew The Rakes over from half-way across the globe for a one-night-only gig at Zouk.

The signature green ambience of Heineken Green Room

I arrived at about 10.30pm and was quite relieved that the gig hadn't started. So when was it going to start? Then a assistant stepped on to the stage numerous times to fiddle with the instruments and stretching the audiences' patience.

The band finally appeared from the back of the stage just before midnight, delighting eager party-goers and probably appeasing disgruntled ones. The band quickly got the crowd psyched up with plenty of their energetic and quirky original music.

Known for being well-dressed, they seem somewhat more casual at this gig in comparison. Must have been the the weather. Nonetheless, the group rocked hard for the audience in their signature geeky, unfazed in the chaos style, much like the title of their song, The World Was A Mess But His Hair Was Perfect.

The first few songs had the lead vocal, Alan furiously signalling to the sound controls to tweak the volumes of the various instruments and vocals. Once that was finally fixed, he proceeded with his infectious signature quirky dance moves while singing that got the crowds rocking.

It was obvious that everybody on stage and off were enjoying themselves. The crowd seemed to have forgotten how long they had waited for them. Perhaps it is a similar attitude of patience that we should adopt for indie music as we trawl through the internet to find our own favourite brand of tunes.

Back on stage the guitarist played so hard his top ripped at the back! Ventilation is definitely helpful in our tropical climates.

And between songs, there would be the endorsement actions by members of the band. I am definitely going to show my appreciation to Heineken Green Room in the same way!

I have to say that I am really impressed by the Lasse's relentless energy on drums in particular. Being positioned right at the back of stage never obscured the intensity of his craft. In his frenzied performance, he exuded his own kind of charisma on stage.

Drumming - a great work out

And just as everyone was high with all the great music, The Rakes left the stage. It took a long time of cheering from the floor before they returned to stage for an encore performance much to the appreciative crowd's delight.

The Rakes would then stay on to spin for Zouk for the night, but many who attended have proceeded towards the exit, including myself. And by the time I got out, my ears were ringing, but I was humming the their infectious and catchy tunes.

21 February 2008

Lady in red cheongsam - An Accidental Photo Shoot

Last Saturday, while waiting for the Mellben feast in Ang Mo Kio, I chanced upon a photo shoot organized by Sony Alpha Club at their digital imaging store, just beside MS Color. Fortunately, the kind people at MS Color (who run the Sony digital imaging store) and the Sony Alpha Club members gladly accommodated a Nikon user in this event. Suffice to say, Sony is pulling all stops to gain market share in the DSLR market. :)

Oh yah, I got trigger happy and I guess I blew the opportunity of providing some proper artistic direction. The model just stood/sat before the lenses and smiled and posed, making these photos void of feeling... Well, except the obvious Chinese New Year feel, but definitely nowhere a Shanghai film noire (like Lust | Caution) kind of mood or the sexy elegance that is embodied in the cheongsam.

More photos from this shoot here.

16 January 2008

Baby Dedication at The Chows

Eric and Arlene dedicate baby Desiree to the Lord.

Click on the photo for the full album.

Changi Airport Terminal 3

It was raining last Sunday when I went to Terminal 3 for a look. But the most memorable thing was that it leaks...

The high ceiling at the Departure Hall was a sight to behold. Perhaps it was an idea to get Singaporeans to lift their chin up amidst the problem of escalating cost of living.

This was probably erected to be a new iconic spot to take those momentous photographs.

In a bid for a cleaner toilet, "the fly solution" was adopted for the urinals in the gents.

Catering to the "Easties", the basement has a shopping mall complete with the Uniquely Singapore NTUC Fair Price and food court too. And just to reinforce the shopping part...