Chuan . Grill & Noodle Bar @ Clarke Quay

One of the things I love about Singapore is that we can get food from all around the world in Singapore. In fact I've friends from Japan saying that some of the high-end sushis in Singapore is even better than some of those they get back home in Japan. I've no idea how fortunate we are sometimes. Until the point when I look into the mirror and realized how much weight I've put on from all the eating and drinking. LOL.

One of my latest addiction is actually "Chinese Cuisine". We have this saying that the Chinese eat everything and technically speaking, given the fact that China is so huge and have such a long history in food, most of our food that are cooked at home can be considered as Chinese cuisine which is why i added the "". What I'm talking about specifically this time round is actually these amazing skewers as well as Mala!

Chuan . Grill & Noodle Bar @ Clarke Quay serves really good skewers and a variety of ramen. The ramen comes in both soup base as well as dry. It's surprisingly good.


The soup based Scallop Noodles.


The beef shank noodles dry. Which is chef recommended as well as me recommended. I went there because I wanted to eat some skewers but end up falling in love with this amazing noodles.

Besides these noodles, they actually have MALA CHICKEN WINGS! OMG! MALA EVERYTHING IS REAL!!!


The skewers are nothing uncommon to see at some of these skewers restaurant you might say. But what I like about them is that they actually served their skewers on a charcoal grill to ensure that the food are kept warm but not overcooked.

That being said, skewers are still best served hot! If you are gonna leave it there for too long, you can't blame the food for turning cold and not as good as you imagined.

Each of these skewers price ranges from $1.20 onwards. I must say it's pretty affordable for the food quality plus where it is located.

I've been to a few other skewers shop but they are usually in Geylang or some places that are difficult to reach and has lack of parking. Chuan . Grill & Noodle Bar is conveniently located in the heart of Clarke Quay.

If you guys are still not convinced, here are more images followed by the address. No better way to find out than trying it out right?



Address: Clarke Quay 01-01-A. Nearer towards Liang Court Side by the river.

Contact: +65 6253 8849

Website: http://www.chuangrillandnoodlebar.com/

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What is the internet for?

Did it make you dumber?

Ironically, thanks to the probably greatest creation of modern mankind – Internet, I was able to catch up some of the good old shows on Netflix. As mentioned on one of my previous posts, I was addicted to the show Californication. Main character Hank Moody played by our good old David Duchovny from X files.

Not a secret agent this time round, he plays a washed up novel writer who got lost in the curse of Los Angeles. Caught in between women (literally and not), alcohol, drugs, and parties, Hank Moody and Californication might sound like a show about sex and every other vice but it's actually more than that. The character development of Hank is really good. He is so real and relatable, there's more than 1 dimension of him and that's basically how every human is. Not like your typical superhero nor villain from Marvel.

Anyway, before I digress any further, I would like to share one of his favourite quotes that got me thinking a little recently. He was on a radio show getting interviewed about his views of his blog (I know) and his view on the internet.

“People seem to be getting dumber and dumber. You know, I mean we have all this amazing technology and yet computers have turned into basically four figure wank machines. The internet was supposed to set us free, democratize us, but all it's really given us is Howard Dean's aborted candidacy and 24 hour a day access to kiddie porn. People... they don't write anymore, they blog. Instead of talking, they text, no punctuation, no grammar: LOL this and LMFAO that. You know, it just seems to me it's just a bunch of stupid people pseudo-communicating with a bunch of other stupid people at a proto-language that resembles more what cavemen used to speak than the King's English.” 

I guess the Internet hit him a little harder considering that he is a wordsmith. The way we are, in his words, pseduo-communicating, ain't exactly his thing. As much as the Internet has given us knowledge and so much convenience but it just make us crave for more. We want things faster, we want things easier, and we want it all. We no longer enjoy those trips down to the libraries and flipping through the old archive newspapers to look for information but instead we just key in a few text into google and hope to look for the answers. Google is making searches easier by the day with SEO and SEM and we are so lazy that we do not even browse through the 2nd page of search results.

We rely so much on technology and internet these days we no longer appreciate the little things of life. We no longer read or information, we do not memorize things because everything can be pulled out off the internet with our 4 fingers wank machine. We relay on it so much that we can't even memorize our own home phone number. Of course, spell check is saving my life on a daily basis.

Invention and creation is neutral on its own. Like I always believe that guns are just guns but it's the people that makes it dangerous. It can be used to protect people and at the same time hurt someone. The internet is just as much the double edge sword if not handled carefully.

One of those major concern looming around the internet has been the whole fake news thingy. That aside, I haven't been the biggest fan of the internet recently. We started Unscrambled.sg with the goals of explaining some of the things that matters to people in plain English because we know how lazy people are when it comes to reading. That includes myself. I'm never big into reading until recent years. Sadly, instead of the positive messages that are within each piece of articles or news put out on the internet, people seem to always be able to pick out things that ain't supposed to be there.

I was relatively disturbed by a recent incident. A girl was killed in an accident, she fell off the building while she was trying to get back into her locked room. Somebody died, somebody is grieving for sure but the internet doesn't have enough empathy and EQ to give the family and friends just that. The comments were mean, it's silly, people were just trashing her without giving much thoughts. People think that just because they are hiding behind a screen they have no responsibility and can say whatever they want. My point is, would anyone of them dare to walk up to the family or the victim herself and say what they had said on the internet? If they do not, why are they doing it online? Simply because they think they could get away with it? This is just one of the many incidents that I've encountered recently. Will we be so used to what we do online without consequences that we just start doing things that we probably wouldn't have even thought of if not for the internet?

Like I said, the invention itself is neutral but how it changes us is yet another story.

Sometimes I just wish for things to go back to simpler days. That sentence alone is making me sound like 10,000 years old.

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What's my career journey?

Hi, I'm Smith and I'm a career guide.



After watching 10936501293 America movies and dramas where I always thought I would end up in one of those AA session with some other alcoholics or something and meet Jessica Jones. Lucky for me and my mum, my life didn't turn out the way I thought it might. In fact instead of being caught in the downward spiral of being an alcoholic, I am actually part of a Youth Career Network (YCN) where I give back a little.

Yes, I'm a career guide. 


They also make me take nice nice professional photo for portfolio. Me being me didn't wear a suit for it. #SmithStyle

Not to get confused with career coach, a career guide is something voluntary unlike career coach which is a job/career itself.

How did I end up here? 

If you have been following my blog or my Instagram, you will see that I attend quite a bit of networking sessions and events organized by NTUC Youth Career Network. That was the very first time I came across this program and got interested.

In fact, if you have a good memory, you will remember me talking about this program and my secondary school friend – Rondy who is also part of this network.

I got really interested after learning about this during the event. And I stood up (actually clicked the link) and volunteered myself when I saw a Facebook post that they were recruiting new career guides.

What do I actually do? 

I know I look kinda scary when I'm serious. STOP IT. 

It's not like I am Jack Ma or Bill Gates that I've an amazing career to share. In fact, that is the reason why they need people like me to be part of this program. The truth is that not everyone is and/or going to become the next Jack Ma but everyone have their own interesting career path and experience to share.

So primarily our role is to attend different networking sessions and share about our experience in a small group setting. If any of those "many" are interested in knowing you better or embark on a journey with you as your mentee, they will be paired and attached to you. It is kinda like tinder but less the romance and "xiao long bao eating" if you get what I mean.

Not to be mistaken with internship or offering them a job in my company, career guides just basically give them advise on their potential career choices and also give them more insights about certain career. For example how I will always scare the potential mentees with the fact that being part of advertising agency just means that sleeping is secondary and in fact sometimes optional. A real Ad (wo)man needs no sleep.

Not trying to be "Old Wong" selling my own melon (that sounded wrong) but the truth about career guides is that the experience they have are really something that assist young people with their career choice. I mean there are a lot of self help books or articles about very successful people but truth is not everyone of us are going to be very successful. It's good to listen to experience from people closer to heart and more realistic isn't it? The truth might hurt but sometimes it's really what we need. And if you are interested to find out more about this, continue reading OR you can simply scroll ALLLLLL the way down to the end of the article where I will provide more information.

So basically you just attend events and haolian about your achievement lah? 

I mean that's one of the many ways to look at it but I choose to look at it that we are giving back. Think about it, how many times can a person change his/her industry in a life time? Wouldn't you wished that someone gave you some insights about an industry before you jump all into it and regret?

In fact, it's a very good learning opportunity for not just the mentees but also for mentors like myself. You know what they say about you learning more when you are teaching? That's pretty much how I feel about this program. Sometimes the mentees just ask the most interesting questions that put you thinking.

I didn't exactly have the smoothest career path considering that I graduated with an Engineering Diploma but decided that events, marketing, advertising, media, and writing is probably a better career path for me. I basically had to start all over again and get myself a marketing degree mid career which wasn't exactly the easiest thing to do.

If all I've to do is to give up a few hours of my time every week/month and I can actually make a difference in someone's life, why not?

Who are these mentees? 

They can be people from all walks of life. Starting from polytechnic students who has no working experience all the way to people who are in their first career and interested in a career change.

And yes, you can be one of them too if you happen to be a young person (or similar) who is feeling lost in their career. Or life. Or both. Or you are just looking for someone to affirm you decisions. You don't really have to be that lost.

So what do you get out of it? 

Satisfaction? I mean that is if you are like me who is a person who believes greatly in nurturing. Like I've mentioned more than once, I believe that education would probably be my final career path when everything I've ever wanted to do is done. I mean I've always enjoy handling like interns, my young crews, and even the youngsters from my basketball team. I guess it's a calling for me. Or maybe I just like to talk and talk.

Besides that, you will also get access to the vast network of NTUC where you get to rub shoulders with other career guides during events as well as meeting even more experience working professionals like Mr Abraham Thomas, Managing Director, IBM Singapore himself who was present at the recent event – LIT Xchange.

And of course if your line of work always require young people like mine, you never know when you will actually meet your next creative executive who might help you ace your next campaign.

LIT Xchange? 

So besides career mentorship program where you are needed to talk and talk right, they will also organized events where you get to learn as well. You know the Chinese saying about 1 mountain still got 1 mountain higher right? So there will be events such as learning journey where you get access to some of the bigger companies in Singapore such as Microsoft, Grab, or IBM to see the behind the scene stuff. I'm a very curious person so this is totally up my alley.

Besides such learning journeys, NTUC YCN will also organize events of different scales once in awhile and invite special speakers to share as well as to network. From the smaller scales ones where it can be courses of any kind to equip you with more skills to aid you with being a menthor, to the bigger scale kinda event like LIT Xchange. During the event and we were all very lucky as we have 3 very experienced speakers to share with us a little more about their companies, the industry, and some of the challenges they face every now and then.

The 3 speakers were Mr Abraham Thomas whom I've already mentioned earlier, as well as Mr. Oliver Tan, CEO and Co-Founder of artificial intelligence company, ViSenze and Ms. Anouk De Blieck, Senior Vice President, Head of Human Resources, Asia Pacific, Visa Inc. You know these people are very important people when their titles are so long right. #Sizedoesmatters.

I swear I wasn't scolding this person. 

Besides the guest speakers, there was also a networking session (Career guides will be present to answer the questions of participants). The whole idea of Lit Xchange is to broaden youths’ horizons with global perspectives and connect them to a vast network of industry professionals who can provide career insights and advice. And yup, this was the session that I felt kinda like those guys doing sales at departmental store where I just stand and talk non-stop about my product. The event attracted over almost 600 participants including both career guides and potential mentees.

Information Time! 

This might sound interesting but yet the information are all over the place because you know, I like to talk and share my experience. But if you are the kind of person who just needs information, here are some of the important information that might just change your life.

How to be a career guide with Young NTUC Youth Career Network? 

HERE: If you have at least 5 years of working experience in your industry/field and is able to commit your time to mentor younger peers, sign up at www.yntuc.sg/careerguides!

P.S. You will need to go through interviews before becoming a guide.

How to be part of the program aka join as mentee? 

You can sign-up as an individual!

HERE: Here’s 3 websites you can check out if you are looking for any career programmes:

From now till 1st August 2018, follow www.lit.sg for upcoming mentorship, discovery and learning journeys offered under Young NTUC LIT series, in support of SkillsFuture Festival 2018.

There’s a mentorship session coming up on 25th July, 7pm – 9.30pm!

You can also check out www.yntuc.sg for more information!

If you are looking for career programmes to attend near your home, we are coming to Chua Chu Kang and West Coast area! Find out more on the lineup of mentorship and discovery sessions at www.todotodo.sg

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Words can heal

Words can heal or kill.

Today, someone's word made my day.

Life ain't getting better but I got healed. Slightly. Slowly. Surely?

Choose your words wisely.

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Sunset Sail with Royal Albatross

Sunset is my favourite time of the day. 

Finding activities to do with the wife can be a little challenging after being together for 12,13,14... 16 years actually. So we've been to quite a lot of places and tried a lot of activities. Besides that, my wife and I are the classic examples of opposites attract. We have a long list of things that we enjoy independently. So we are always trying to look for something that we both enjoy doing. This time round, I was invited to get onboard the Royal Albatross, it was my birthday weekend so, why not? ONTO THE BOAT WE GO!

The journey begins as the sun sets out in the tranquillity of Singapore’s calm port waters and the open decks of this amazing 4-mast 22-sail luxury Tall Ship. Sailing from Resorts World Sentosa (RWS), the sparkling waters off the southern coast of Singapore has an enchanting feel, transporting us into a magical world of romance. 

And I swear the favourite part of the boat ride for the wife has to be the curated menu that includes a sumptuous International 3 Course yacht dinner or Buffet and signature cocktails and drinks from the premium bar onboard. This is really a perfect birthday or anniversary gift for couples. When we were there we saw many other couples too! 

Me? Of course it's the bar! 

Royal Albatross boasts of wide open decks and is a perfect place for that intimate date!

Good food, drinks, live band, sunset, the wife. What else can I ask for right? 

So besides just sitting around, eating, drinking, talking, and chilling. If you are a little more adventurous or curious about the ship you also have other options!

YOU CAN CLIMB THE MAST!!!

Anyway for more information you can check them out at https://www.tallship.com.sg/

When checking out, input promo code smithankyou and get yourself 10% discount off booking for 3 months.

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The Cathay - Ink and Cut 2018

The little new ink that I got from the event.


Would you put a tattoo on you that is not selected by yourself? What if it's something you don't like? These are some of the questions I've been getting from friends and readers about The Cathay's ink and cut event.

Let's put a pin on that and let me share with you more about this event. How does it really works?

INK

Step 1: Pick a word of inspiration.

There is this word with a whole list of keywords like strength, strive, rockstar, etc etc. It's random so the design is actually based on the word you picked. Of course if you pick a word that is totally not you, I'm sure you can negotiate with the organizers that you want to change a word.

What did I get?

It's not too bad fit for me considering how I like to travel ever since I started having the whole shutterbug thing infected on me. I don't mean a real illness, I just meant I started shooting for a living.

BUT... I thought this might be a better word for me.

THAT'S RIGHT! And please don't tell my wife. :x

Step 0: Spent $50 

Actually I kinda got it wrong. So I'm doing this starwars thing where I will release prequels. In order to be part of this event, one need to spend $50 at The Cathay and redeem this tattoo or hair cut/hair tattoo. It's really not difficult since The Cathay is filled with so many different type of food, services and retail. If you remember, my chio chio skin doctor, Dr Kellyn is also in the building.

Step 2: GET READY! 

So it's really that simple to be honest. All you had to do is to get the word and that's all. Insert your hand into the erm... "glory hole" hang on and wait for the surprise!

No, she wasn't tickling my armpit but I can't exactly remember why I was laughing so happily.

FAQ 

I always wanted to do a tattoo FAQ but this time round I would just like to answer this one question and also some others about this event.

IS IT PAINFUL? 

This picture should probably answer everything.

I was using my phone as if nothing was happening. I mean, look at me, I've this whole sleeve thing going on and if it was pain, that probably wouldn't have happen. Truth is everyone has different pain threshold as well as when it comes to different parts of your body. Your biceps and forearms are probably the strongest. You hardly feel anything really.

Because my crew asked me to act like it's very pain. I've no idea why he asked for it but I did it to entertain him anyway.

Would you put a tattoo on you that is not selected by yourself? 

Yes and I did. I did it because I like the element of surprise! It's kinda like arrange marriage. You have no idea what you are getting into and the commitment could probably be for a life time.

What if it's something you don't like? 

I believe that every tattoo tells a story and if the story is ugly or something I hate, I guess it still makes a good story right? And I guess was pretty lucky to get a word of inspiration that really meant something to me.

What if you see this person with the same tattoo with you because he/she went to the same event? 

There are pretty limited slots per day. Each tattoo takes around 30mins to 1hr so based on what I've gathered, the event ink no more than 10 pax a day and they actually remove certain keywords after they are being used but I'm not sure how many times will they actually ink them before they eventually remove it.

CUT

As you guys should know I've not much hair to begin with so the "cut" segment of the event do not really applies to me. So instead one of my crew actually went and gave it a go. The guys behind the cut segment are actually from THE GOLDEN RULE BARBER CO. These guys are so cool. They look like they walk straight out from a show set in Harlem or something.

I apologize for this out of focus image. And also because it wasn't taken by me. :x

If you noticed. The guy from the right actually look a lot like Ice 3. When asked, he said he knows and he calls himself Ice box. No clue why box but my best guest is before a box has 4 corners and 4 is bigger than 3. LOL.

Besides ink and hair cutting there were also other fringe event like this dude that does customized note books and stuff. This event is really my kinda thing where it's all about making things the way you like it.

Anyway, for those who had no idea, this event is actually their 2nd installment. If you are reading this in 2019 because you googled and was trying to find out more information about the event, it means that the 3rd edition is on it's way and hope to see you there! That is if I still have space for more ink. LOL.

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MMI SAVOUR GOURMET FESTIVAL 2018 AT SHENZHEN

We all came back with extra baggage... In our tummy.


Like my Bro Barney Stinson says it the best - SUIT UP AND GET READY TO PARTEHHH!!! IT IS GOING TO BE LEGEN.... WAIT FOR IT....But he probably wouldn't agree with my hover hand picture. 

Before I go on to talk about my trip I have to talk about the food I had at MMI Savour gourment festival 2018.



It's really amazing I get to try all these Michelin-starred dishes all at one place while watching live performances under the stars. It would really be an amazing event to bring a date but all I've with me was Nic and Flora. #MEH

It's a typical question to ask at such events right? WHICH IS YOUR FAVOURITE?

I'm a sweet tooth and the Red Dragon Paviova by Australian Dessert Chef Samuel Yeo takes the cake. Did you see what I did there? Fine, it's not exactly cake but it's still a food attempt on good pun. (Oops I did it again.)

Dessert aside, the most innovative food at the event has to be the Xiao Long Bao by ‘Demon Chef’’ Alvin Leung from Michelin 3-star restaurant Bo Innovation. I've no idea how to describe it accurately but the whole XLB just burst into a mouthful of happiness the moment you put it in your mouth. It's really unlike anything I've ever tried. It taste really good and the texture and experience is soooo different. OMG, I'm typing this and feeling really hungry now!

I mean since we were there on official business representing Unscrambled.sg so it's no secret that we already have a post there with all the information. So please head there to find out more so I do not need to reproduce the content here. LOL. PLEASE CLICK. LOVE YOU LONG TIME AND THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

So now I've gotten the food out of the way, let me tell you the story of how it went down. #Foodforlyfe #Foodbeforeeverything


Red Dragon Paviova by Australian Dessert Chef Samuel Yeo and not my hand.

It was an exciting week for the Project 24 team last week. Not only because we closed a few other new projects last week but also because our bags were all packed and ready to go! SHENZHEN BABY!

It's not the first time I visited the land of dragons but there were many firsts for me during this trip.

First time in Shenzhen

As compared to Beijing, Da lian, and a few other cities I've visited before, I would say that visiting every part of China always gives me different experiences. I've no idea what to expect at Shen Zhen since it has been years since I last stepped into China.

What can I say? I was pretty impressed with the airport.



First time having multiple dishes from multiple Michelin-starred chef.

Not just 1 Michelin-starred chef but 6 of them! How is that possible? Only at Savour MMI gourmet festival! And that was the reason why we headed down to Shenzhen. To fill our belly with good food, all in one place. And if you haven't figure out at this point of the article, this is what the event is about. Bringing good food from around the world into one event!

On another episode of my job is cooler than yours - "Backstage passes".



It's not an everyday affair that you get to see all the behind the scene of movies or events firsthand and this felt especially interesting to me – a person who is always into "how stuff works". For those of you guys who have been stalking this space long enough would remember that I used to run an events company, so being at the event site felt especially interesting to me. It's like the ghost of my career past.



Seriously ah. Walking through a site with booths being set up, part timers being briefed on what to do, events manager doing a rundown on tomorrow's activities and etc got my adrenaline pumping. For a moment I was like, "CAN I BE PART OF THIS PLEASE!" Events planning and execution is tiring stuff but it still is one of my favourite jobs so far.

Before I get all sappy and get into Lang Leav mode, I better quickly finish this post with the rest of the updates. LOL. Not too sure how you guys will respond to my talent of the lack of poems.

And some 24hours later. I would like to quote lil Seth - TAR DAR!

Mic check, sound check, chefs in position and WE ARE READY TO ROLL!




So yes! We had a good time at MMI Savour gourment festival 2018! I would advice you to scroll up again to look at those amazing food we had!


So good that this boy has no words but to show his appreciation his way.

Anyway, if you are not going to make it in time for this round, a little bird told me that there are going to be another installment of MMI Savour Gourmet Festival later this year in another exciting city and a few more to come in coming years. I really hope you guys get to try all these good because a good friend don't get fat alone wants his friend to try everything good too!

... DARY!!! LEGENDARY! 

ABOUT MMI

MMI GROUP is a holding company with activities spanning across media advertising, entertainment and gaming.

MMI GROUP offers exclusive live entertainment shows and concerts, family entertainment spaces, interactive digital advertising networks and delivers the latest in multi-platform mobile games.

With the innovative and diversified platforms in media advertising, entertainment and gaming, MMI GROUP is able to achieve our mission of creating and bonding communities by creating excitement and fun in a dynamic way, consolidating and synergising entertainment and advertising.

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