Jumbo Tank - What's That Mean ?

Today's lunch was Jumbo Tank - it contains an egg (fried I guess), two slices of garlic breads, some peas, some salami and, most important of all, a large cheese pork sausage. 

I don't know how the meal got its name. There is a dialect called Full tank featuring a smaller sausage.

I wondered if it is derived from the fact that it is army issued breakfast for those who operate the tanks. But if that's the case, there should be some meals called, "Jet", " Jeep or "Pounder". If all the soldiers got the same ration, then it should have called something like G.I or whatever.

However, it was a good meal

New Home - Tons of Things to Work out

Good Morning West-Coast ! I greeted. I am now in West-Coast area (according to the post office, it is the same as Clementi). The good thing is it is within working distance to my lab. The bad thing ? Yeah, there was a lot of things to unpack.

Knowing I have nothing to eat in the morning, before she went back, my Onee Chan bought me a pack of bread containing four loafs. The breads are spread with some meat floss (chicken I guess) and sugar coated. Those breads became my breakfast and lunch.

I realized I shouldn't buy many things - like shoes, furniture and cloths etc. I packed up half of my cloths (both new and PJs) into my luggage. Yet, I still have lots of cloths to iron (and wear). I decided I won't buy new cloths until someone gives me a coin - mistaking me as a begger. :P

Around 1630 hour, after shopping for grocery, I located the roasted pork resturant - where various parts of pig is available. I regarded it as my linner (lunch + dinner)

Winter Officially Begin

Today's September 23 - that means the Sun's path is slightly to the South from the Equator. In other words, Winter for Northern hemisphere begin !

However, the heat is still intense in Singapore. Lunch was in air-conditioned room - yes, the Burger King. 

LTNS Subway

It has been a couple of months that I was away from Subway - the last one being my little sister's strange appetite for one before this very blog. Ok, I had Oregano with Italian B.M.T. The main essence of all sandwich (and Burgers) is the cheese, vegetables and its sauce. My favorite was honey mustard. Today's lunch was uneventful except it is two parted - the second part being eaten at the bank (Onee Chan E* and I opened a disciplined saving account in order to donate money for monastery lease renewal; we'd donate a square feet a month if everything go as planned).

Escaped Sequence in URL

Today's lunch is Whopper Jr. with French fries and Coke. Since the time I left home is a quarter to 12, I needed to re-route my bus route in order to avoid a long wait - after I missed a bus full of passengers. Arriving school, the canteen was full-house and the weather was damn hot. I chose Burger King as it is less crowded - more expensive - and with air conditioning.

Half-way into my Whopper, my Onee Chan rang me asking how to encode '&' in url string. I asked her to google with keywords "escape character in url". After a while she replied she got around the problem by using '%' followed by the ASCII code. I just noted that.

Update : The next day, I googled myself and found that URL encoder function in java libraries can be used for this purposes as URL are not always encoded in ASCII, UTF-8 or any coding standard. For different locales, URL encoder functions work persistently.

Sandwich with Horseradish Sauce

Today's lunch is Sandwich - a home made one. I made it myself using ham, a cheese slice, three slices of bread, ketchup and horseradish sauce. Horseradish sauce is introduced to me by my land lady. You should try it. It's a hint of wasabe but not so strong and pungent. Here's how you make one.

You may need:

• Three slices of bread
• A slice of ham
• A slice of cheese
• Some ketchup and
• Horseradish sauce

First, spread the horseradish sauce and tomato ketchup onto the breads - Horseradish sauce to the outer two slices and ketchup to the inner slice. Then put the cheese facing the ketchup. Heat the bread and cheese using low microwave for 40 - 60 seconds. This will make the cheese melt and go into the bread.

Bake the ham using some oven - or fry it using water. Put the ham between the breads and heat the bread up (using oven) for 3 minutes. This will make the bread super crispy.

There you go ! Delicious sandwich !

A Good Plot Device

Today's lunch is fried fish fillet with bread plus water. The fish were in the fridge for a long time, so I fried them all to keep them today using tumeric poweder and salt only. I ate some of them with bread (what a very bad combination; don't try). I was supposed to cook rice but a good plot device for a budget movie consumed my mind the whole afternoon.

It was about sins, death and cute girls. It only needs two characters. I now have the plot device, the twist, the ending but still short of the story elements. At first, I'd make it a short story with poem fillers - not in TAH universe. However, I, somehow, was able to fit that in the TAH timeline with the help of a special kind of narrative. Then, I thought, if Sai Sai found that, he'd make it a video. Then I thought how economical if I make it into a short film. I contacted my film enthusiastic friends and my brother.

I was thinking of producing it myself, let one of my friends produce it, let my brother produce it or let NUS film group produce it. I couldn't make up my mind. Wish me good luck. 

The temporary title that is in my mind is "An Interview with Lord of Death".

How to Make Chili Oil

This morning, I had some difficulty in the toilet. Therefore, today's lunch includes much vegetables (steamed). I also had sausages, an egg and two slices of whole-meal bread. Whole meal bread also help you in your toilet. It is good for health. My egg was a little bit awkward when I break it into the pan so it looks funny. I took a quick photo of my lunch.

Before lunch, I watched Martin Yan's cook show, which featured Si Chuan food. Since one of my senior labmates is from Si Chuan and many of my ethnic groups reside in that province, I am very interested in their culture - including their food. Their food, with the use of Chili pepper and Chili oil, are so much similar to our Shan food (see my previous post for deeper details). Martin Yan used commercialized Chili Oil. Let me share you how you can make some yourselve.
Never ever try to fry the grounded dry chili to get your Chili Oil, or your neighbor will hate you to the hell. Moreover, by frying that dry chili, you will end-up overcooked Chili Oil. How you make it is much similar to how you make fried garlic for fried garlic noodle. Put the grounded dry chili into a bowl (not a plastic or easy-melting ones). Heat the oil up until you can see the smoke (vapor like things) above the pot and pour the hot oil into the bowl. Don't forget to cover the bowl immediately (or your naighbor will still hate you). Done !

Star Hub Goes NUTS

Today's lunch was also late (cough syrup = get up late :P). In fact, it was really late (at 16:00). I take the same food as my breakfast and it was western partly to kill the pack of bread, which is going to expire. I had sausages, egg, vegetables (for the sake of tomorrow's morning) and many slices of bread.
It was not supposed to be that late to have lunch. However, one of my Onee Chans (elder sisters), M, rang and told me that her cousin couldn't get a mobile phone from Star Hub's Vivo City branch just because she didn't have any proof of billing address associated with her name. I was sending a complaint (via their web system) for this matter. They are really, in Creative's CEO Sim Wong Huu's words, NUTS (No-U-Turn-Syndrome).
I also had a similar experience when I changed my billing address for my home broadband line. When I was moving home, I visited Star Hub's Vivo City branch and asked them. They simply refused to do so because I didn't bring any documents that relate my name with my new address.
Old student passes beared school's address (in my case, that of NUS registrar's office) but didn't have any photo while new ones bear no address whatsoever (they have photos though). Bank statements only come at the end of the month. Unfortunately, my land lady and I (also my roommate) was so friendly that we didn't sign the contract months after moving in :P.
One awkward and amazing thing is that, when I rang Star Hub's hot line 1633, they promptly changed the address - no question asked - for me. This shows inconsistency in Star Hub. For a large well-known brand like Star Hub, it is a shame and shouldn't occur, I think.
Let's get back to the poor foriegn student, who couldn't get a hand-phone. Their policy is un-earthly (unrealistic). Just arrived from a economic-sanctioned country like Burma (aka Myanmar), she surely doesn't have any bank account. (Even for students from other countries, they won't have a local account immediately. Banks need student pass to open account and student pass can only be obtained after school registration etc.) Even if she has (say she opened one after arriving Singapore), she'll get her bank statement only at the end of the month. Being just arrived may mean staying in a hotel or a temporary hostel or at a friend's place - ruling out the possibility of holding a rental agreement. In short, their policy is almost the same as "No mobile contract with foreign students whatsoever" or "I dont' want any business with foriegn students."
In fact, the purpose of affirming the billing address is that the customer won't run away (or cheat the service provider). However, that is already breached by accepting bank's statements. A cunning customer would just produce the bank statement of his/her old home to apply a new mobile line then fly out of Singapore. In this way, he/she can enjoy a free (or cheap) hand-set plus hours of free oversea calls.
Consider my case (This is other way round). If that girl never changes my address, I may not receive the bills. Not receiving the bills often leads to forgetting to pay (here, we can pay the bill using old bills or by visiting the branch personally). Late payments means extra transactions (cutting the line, late fees, filing at the court etc). If I run away, like in the above example of cunning customer, the service provider can never collect my bill. In the end, both the customer and the service provider lost. It's a lost-lost situation.
They really should reconsider their procedures (taking account of the fact that new student passes issued have photos). Banking industry also have this kind of problem - even when I need to deposit money to my own account. What a NUTS !