Art of the Devil 3

Panor (Napakpapah Nakprasit) is an attractive and beautiful teacher who is victimized through black magic by a Thai family to use her body to bring back a loved-one from the dead. Revenge takes its course when Panor's soul gets back at the family. At the same time, a man who is obsessed with black magic sets out to hunt Panor, believing that the Three-Eyed Devil lives within her.

One thing I noticed about Thai movies is that they love gore. The more blood, violence & cringe-worthy scenes, the better. I found the story a bit interesting because black magic (amongst other horror folklore) is also profound in the Philippines. I haven't really proved it's truth and existence but the filipino culture is not complete without talk about "mangkukulam", "tikbalang", "manananggal" and other local ghosts and creatures.

The movie was so-so. I've seen better thai movies. Surprisingly though I didn't fall asleep, despite the fact we watched the 1.35am showing. Haha! maybe because of all the gore. It doesn't matter that I didn't see the prequels because the story was second to the blood and violence in the movie.

For my rating, I give "Art of the Devil 3" - 2/5.

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The Soup Spoon, Raffles City

I LOoooOOvvEE Soup Spoon!!! No need to food blog because I already give them a 5/5! hehehe.

Whenever I'd like to indulge myself but not feel as guilty, I head straight to Soup Spoon. I think it's a brilliant idea to come up with a food store that is all about soup.

Nevermind the usual long queue and the slightly more expensive price because to me it is all worth it. I never really thought I could enjoy soup and feel full at the same time. I have always thought of soup as a starter but not as the main meal.



Their soups usually come with your choice of bread but this time we opted to "upsize" it to Naan for $1.50, add cheese and you add $3.00. I think it's a good idea to have a curry-based soup as I usually associate Naan with indian or mediterranean cuisine. Nevertheless, the Naan was good. Very chewy and perfect to dunk in your soup.

Zach had the "Beef Goulash" - described in their website as "prime beef-cut stewed with the infamous paprika and loaded with starchy vegetables to make it a meal in itself." I already had this before so I opted to try something else but I must say, this is really a meal on its own. There was so much veggies and beef that you could actually pair it with rice. Moreover, it's very healthy and yummy!

For $10.80, the beef goulash came with the "Chicken Tikka Wrap" - tandoor chicken with mango chutney, mint cucumber, red onions and romain lettuce. Another yummy treat!! hehe I'm so bias. But really, the tangy taste of the chutney plus the tender chicken was perfect with the bread.

I had the "Velvety Mushroom Stroganoff" - described as "feels almost like eating fresh mushrooms out of the field. The mushrooms are so smooth, they glide down the throat. This soup is overpowering with the aroma of mushrooms perfect for mushroom lovers."

Ok! I get it alright, mushrooms. That description was overkill... But indeed there was mushrooms everywhere. Too many that the soup was too thick. But still gloriously yummy!

To complement my soup, I had the "Teriyaki Fish Sandwich" ($10.60, with soup) - teriyaki fish with red onions, green salad & wasabi mayo. I'm not sure about the teriyaki fish but the wasabi mayo gave that extra layer of flavor & spice. My least favorite but not too bad all in all.

I sum up my soup spoon experience as healthfully appetizing!! (if there is such a phrase, haha). I just love the fact that you can enjoy your food for less the fat & calories. Some soups are a bit more caloric especially the cream-based ones but I think compared to eating a fastfood meal, soup spoon is definitely the wiser choice, bar none!

Here is my rating for Glorious Soup Spoon (haha):

Ambiance - 3.5
Service - N/A
Food - 4.5
Presentation - 3.5
Value for Money - 4.5
OVERALL - 4.0

252 North Bridge Road
B1-75/76 Raffles City Shopping Centre Singapore
Telephone: (65) 6334-3220

"Live, Love & Eat!"

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Fitness Blog #4

OK. I admit it. I have seriously taken for granted how hard it is to keep a food blog and lose weight. So now I am officially taking off Fitness. Hehe. Kidding.

Much to my regret, I gained 1.1kg.
F%#&!!!!
I am at fault. I know. I have been careless lately. Plus the fact that I went on a short holiday. Not to be disheartened because I have still been going to the gym regulary. At least 2-3 times a week. I have to go more often. But I have started doing weights as well. So who knows maybe the 1.1kg are muscles?!! :P hehe

Also, I am still cutting down on white carbs especially rice. I still take my wheat sandwich to work.


Speaking about gym, (I just really have to say this) don't you just hate stinky smelly gym-goers??! I mean, yes of course, in one way or the other some, if not most people, will emit some kind of smell because IT IS a gym, for crying out loud. But some people (and I think you know who these people are) are just offensively smelly. Their smell will hit you like a punch. Upper cut right on the nose. I mean really, from 10 feet away you could smell them. Atrocious.

The first time I got here in Singapore, this is the one thing that surprised me. The city looks very clean and green but the smell, I dont think so. Everyday, during my 3-hour long journey to and fro work, the smell of "these specific people" are just really an obstacle. A lot of times it would just make me mad. I mean c'mon, its impossible they dont smell themselves right?? besides, isn't it common sense that if you don't regulary take a shower and not use deodorant then of course you will stink!?

No wonder they recently came out with a "week-long" deodorant. NO kidding. They claim this wipe-on deodorant will last a week. Yuck.

Starting Weight as of June 30 - 121 kg
Weight as of July 9 - 119.2 kg
Weight as of July 16 - 118.5 k
Weight as of August 12 - 119.6 kg

"No Pain, No Gain"

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Big O Cafe Restaurant, Wheelock Place

So I was craving for Pasta with meatballs on a Friday night. We were thinking of going to CPK or Svensen's but settled for Big O Cafe at Wheelock Place.

I think it's always a genius idea to entice the customers by displaying the cakes at the entrance - especially in a place like Wheelock where foot traffic is heavy and a lot of hungry mallrats abound.


For starters, we had their "Soup of the Day -Clam Chowder" ($6.00). I was very careless to delete the picture of the soup when I was browsing thru the photos. Now I don't remember how it tastes like. Sometimes by seeing what I ate, it helps me remind of how it tastes. Anyhow, I remember it was quite good. Not too salty and rich.


For appetizer, we had the "Crispy Fried Calamari" ($9.90) - menu described it as "calamari with tartar dip and yellow lemon". Aren't all lemons yellow?? because when it's green its called lime, right?

Anyway, as you can see in the pic, the calamari is too bloated. In short, too much flour. I prefer breadcrumbs for calamari. If there's any flour, probably a thin batter just like the one at Fish & Co. Plus the tartar sauce was too sour and the calamari was rubbery. Not quite appetizing.

For main course, I had the "Spaghetti with Meatballs" - ($18.50) - described as "delicious beef meatballs in Big O's fragrant signature sauce".

For the price of the pasta, I did get a hefty serving. There was a lot of beef and the meatballs were quite big. Unfortunately, it was indeed big in serving but not big on taste. The sauce was bland. I did see a lot of herbs in the sauce and inside the meatballs but for some reason couldn't taste it. And I'm sure I didn't have a cold. I'd rather have less meat but more flavour.

For dessert, we had "Spike D" ($4.95) - described as "durian cake made with fresh durian topped with chocolate fudge. Voted favorite dessert by Life Eats".

Honestly, I'm netural when it comes to durian. I don't really despise it but I also don't love it. I must say though, this durian cake saved the day. You couldn't smell the pungent aroma but you could definitely taste the durian. Very moist and delightful. The chocolate was a good contrast to the durian. A very unique "must-try" especially to durian lovers.

Overall, I was a bit disappointed with Big O. I learned thru the website Big O is the newest sister restaurant of NYDC. And in my previous blog I was disappointed with NYDC. Oh well..

Here is my rating for Big O:
Ambiance - 3.5
Service - 3.5
Food - 2
Presentation - 3
Value For Money - 3
OVERALL - 3

ADDRESS #02-04/05, 501 Orchard Road, Wheelock Place Singapore 238880
RESERVATIONS 67378472

"Live, Love & Eat!"

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Dreaming of Maldives..

Grabbed pic from Google images. Credits to Kevin Yeo

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kenviv

Maldives is on the top of my dream destinations list. I would be the happiest man on earth once I step foot on any of the breathtaking islands of Maldives. For me, its heaven on earth. And due to monetary constraints, I don't think I'll be seeing Maldives on my bloglist anytime soon. Hopefully, before it sinks I can taste a piece of its heaven. *Sigh *

According to BBC news, scientists fear the sea level is rising up to 0.9cm a year. Since 80% of its 1,200 islands are no more than 1m above sea level, within 100 years the Maldives could become uninhabitable.

So I have a 100 years to save for my maldives trip then I think I have ample time to go there hehe :P But seriously, its very saddening and devastating. I'm sure other islands around the world would sink as well. Or maybe even cities. Reminds me of the documentary "An Inconvenient Truth"...

Anyway, I was quite surprised to see this pic of Male (capital of Maldives) on the net. I never knew a whole modern city existed in Maldives. All this time, I thought it was an uninhabited place comprised of islands and rural living. I hope it doesn't get too modern that they pollute the surrounding islands and accelerate the sinking.

So while I was at it, I took the time to research the most expensive resort in Maldives. Forbes listing last 2006 ranked Rania as one of the most expensive resorts, not only in Maldives but in the world at $9,500 a night.

The Rania Experience, an exclusive-use resort in the Maldives, is located on a seven-acre island in the Indian Ocean. The island's entertainment pavilion features a home theater and programmed Apple iPods. Use of an 86-foot yacht is included in the room rate, as are a private chef, unlimited spa treatments, diving courses, big game fishing and local island cruises. Rania accommodates nine; room rates start at $9,500 per night for the first couple and $500 per night for each additional guest.
For more information, call 011-960-333-6522 or visit www.raniaexperience.com.

So I took the liberty to visit their website to find out if they accept diners credit card (hahahah I wish), and look at what I found: "website under construction". They charge almost 10 grand a night but couldn't afford to update their website. Hilarious.

Maybe I should put up a paypal donation button on my blog for my "maldives dream" charity?? Hehe.

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Macau Express, Singapore Expo

After visiting the NATAS Travel Fair to book our tickets to Genting next month (My brother Johann & his GF, Farida, plus my cousin Mike are visiting), we were scouting for a place to eat at.

Since Aileen was still hung over from her recent Macau Trip, we chose to eat at Macau Express. The line to order your food was quite long so I figured the food must be good.

I really wanted to have the Portuguese Baked Half Chicken (as I saw some people eating it) but just my luck, they already ran out of it.

sorry for the blurry pics, used my phone cam

We opted to have the Baked Porkchop Rice ($7.90). So while waiting for our food, I looked at the receipt and noticed they charged us 30 cents each for the wet towelettes. I really don't know why some restaurants (mostly chinese) would make it mandatory to buy these damn towels. Sure it's just 30 cents but if you multiply that by the people who eat there, thats quite a lot. Plus, why can't they make it "optional" to the people who don't want it?? Stupid towels.

Anyway, the porkchop was ok. The gravy was good but not much pork. Too much gravy actually that everything was swimming in gravy. I feel also a bit pricey for almost 8 bucks.

The Egg tarts were great. I love the flaky crust. Though the filling was a bit too soft and watery. I prefer the real macaunese egg tarts Aileen brought over when she got back. More firm and creamy.

For a quick dinner, not so bad. But nothing spectacular. Here is my rating for Macau Express:

Ambiance - 2.5
Food - 3.0
Service - NA
Presentation - 2.0
Value for Money - 2.5
OVERALL - 2.625

Singapore Expo, #01-43, Hall 4 Atrium
For reservations or enquiries, please call 6822 7883

"Live, Love & Eat!"

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Bad Habits

Sins of indulgence... Intertwining stories of abuse, adultery, and anorexia.

Matilde is a doctor who chooses to become a nun, convinced that faith moves mountains. Secretly she begins a mystic fasting to end what she considers to be the second great flood. Elena is a thin and fashion-conscious woman ashamed of her little daughter's chubbiness. Elena's husband, Gustavo - a professor of architecture - cannot cope any more with his wife's anorexia. For his carnal needs, he turns to a buxom female student with a hearty appetite, literally & figuratively.

Any movie that has got to do with weight issues will always be a homerun for me. I love how the movie depicts different forms of cravings - for food, sex, love & faith. Of course, growing up as a fat boy, I could definitely relate to the little girl. Unlike the little girl who was pressured by her anorexic mother, I felt more pressure from society. Just like in the movie, as a young boy, I also felt that the more the people around me forced me into losing weight, the more I wanted to eat. I think someone can only really lose weight, if you truly want it, not because other people are telling you so.

It's been a while since I've seen an artsy movie and I think this was worth it. Don't expect to see highly-visual action scenes because this movie banks on the story. A subtle yet intriguing and engaging movie, I give "Bad Habits" a 4/5.

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Welcome to the World, Bernice!

I know this is not in tune to the theme of my blog but I just have to include this very special and momentous event in my blog.

My cousin, Ruby Buenaflor, just gave birth!!

And it's very special because she is the first to give birth amongst all of us cousins (mother side cousins). Their clan has this very unique and treasured tradition that everyone in the family who gives birth should follow the sequence of the alphabet. In short, she had to name her baby with the letter "B" - because everyone else had already covered letters A-Z and now they're back to B.


So her name is "Bernice Anne Buenaflor Vasay". Too bad I'm here in Singapore and I couldn't be there in Manila to see Bernice. She will be christened on September but I doubt I could go home as I'm saving my very minimal leaves for December. Bummer!

So welcome to this world, Bernice!! We wish you all the love, luck, joy, peace, happiness, talent, beauty and an acne-free, weight-problem-free life in this world! hehehe.

God Bless You!
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Patong Seafood Restaurant, Phuket, Thailand

Seafood, seafood and more seafood. This was our food itinerary for Phuket. So while strolling along the beachfront, this resaturant stood out because of their claim of having the "best seafood since 1979". Hmm lets see if they live up to that...

It's always fun to be able to choose the seafood you want and how you want it cooked. We chose a huge groupa fish and asked them to crispy-fry it with sweet and sour sauce. Then we also chose prawns to be sauteed in lemon and butter.

Where is my damn food?!! hehe.

We asked for ice water (meaning cold water in Singapore) and they gave us a bucket of ice and mineral water... next time don't use local singlish slang hehe



The Shrimp was quite bad. I think they were overcooked plus I couldn't taste a hint of lemon or butter. AND they only gave us 5 shrimps when we remember choosing 6. But who cares, we didn't want to ruin our meal for that.

The Crispy-Fried Groupa Fish was ooh-la-la yummy! There was so much boneless meat and it was perfectly crisp!! So crispy you could actually eat the head (not that I did hehe). The sauce was mildly sweet and sour and didn't drown the natural taste of the fish. My kind of dish.

The noodles were so bad I couldn't even remember what kind of noodle dish this was. The noodles were so overcooked they clumped one each other and became so starchy. Very bad.

The rice was even worse. If you look closely at the pic you could still see white pieces of rice, which means it wasnt mixed properly. Moreover, there wasn't a lot of meat, veggies or what have you. In short, it was a mediocre dish of fried rice. Yo Yo wins.

Overall, they didn't live up to their claim of having the best seafood (or food for that matter). I mean they probably did have good and fresh seafood but if you didn't cook it properly then what's the point right? We paid around 1200+ Baht for the entire meal. Double the price of Yo Yo but half the taste.

Here is my rating for Patong Seafood:

Ambiance - 3.5
Service - 2.5
Food - 2.5
Presentation - 3
Value for Money - 3
OVERALL - 2.9

"Live, Love & Eat!"

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Yo Yo Restaurant, Phuket, Thailand

It's funny how we found this restaurant. We were walking around trying to find authentic thai food to satisfy our monstrous cravings and when we were cautiously waiting to cross the street (as thai drivers don't give way to pedestrians), this guy came out of nowhere and bravingly gestured the speeding tuktuks to slow down so we could cross.

Lo and behold, he is the waiter for Yo Yo. So even if we still wanted to look around, we settled to eat there because of the guy's nice and clever gesture.

Anxiuosly waiting for our food hehe.

So we started off with a refreshing coconut drink. Pretty well presented for a street restaurant. The coconut meat was tender and fresh. A great way to cleanse your tastebuds to start off a meal.

I'm not sure if its thai custom to always serve these 3 sauces but everytime we ate somewhere they always did. I love the sauce on the right, the one with a lot of green and red chili on top. It was sweet, sour and spicy all rolled into one.

The chicken with ginger was ok. Tasted normal but not bad. The squid in red chilli was ultra spicy!! but the squid was tender and tasted fresh. And the portions were quite big to think it was really cheap (I think around 50baht).

The pineapple fried rice was scrumptous!!! I never knew rice could taste that good haha. There were generous portions of pineapple, chicken and cashew nuts. It was actually a meal on its own.

Finally I got to taste authentic pad thai!! This was the runaway winner! The noodles were very tasty and al dente and the seafood was abundant. This was my favorite of all the dishes. If only I could eat noodles with rice haha. Carbo load.

Overall, my yoyo experience was a rollercoaster ride of flavours. To top it all off, we only paid 500+Baht for all the dishes including the drinks. Can you believe that?! thats like 20 dollars for a thai feast. Of course we didn't get ritz-carlton ambiance but the rustic, slightly-polluted feel (haha) added to the authentic thai experience.

Here is my rating for Yo Yo:

Ambiance - 2.5
Service - 4
Food - 5
Presentation - 3
Value for Money - 5
OVERALL - 3.9

"Live, Love & Eat!"

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