I love Photography.
Photography consists of Lights, hence I love Lights.
Christmas Tree consists of Lights, hence I love Christmas Tree.
Therefore, I Photograph Christmas Tree.

It’s that time again, the bells will start to jingle and the snow (literally) will fall soon. It’s the greeting season, it’s the gadget-buying season, it’s the romantic getaway season!

What do you have on your list this year?
I have mine, a long list.

It has been a busy months for all of us. We used to meet up for weekends quite frequently once, and tonight was the first (well, a real one) gathering for me and my hometown friends, for the past few months. Best wishes for everyone of us, for us the KB Gang, and those who joined the group long enough to be considered part of us.

It was a short but enjoying BBQ session tonight. With nice cheesecake!

Great thanks to Ei Leen for teaching me on how to set up BBQ pit fire, in a proper way. It isn’t that difficult after all! Look, this is how you should position the charcoals and the fire starter. Light up the starters, and cover the triangles with more charcoals, enclosing the starter and allowing little space for gas and wind. The charcoals shall be ready in 5 to 10 minutes

Group photos! We were so used to take group photos whenever we have gatherings. We were talking about having tummies for the guys after we started working, and were so slim and thin when we were still in secondary school Those were the days, but we are still not much different except having slightly bigger (ok, maybe not slightly) tummies…

The BBQ was meant for their belated birthday, Kheng Jin, Fei Fei, and Siong Teok (from left to right). Look at the little fella on the left, see what he had in mind … and was trying to show.

I love this pic, thanks Teok for the good angle and catch Don’t mind sharing photography with you as long as you allow me to speak. I tend to talk a lot and at times hard to stop when it comes to photography, hahaha.. now get that D90

Before we dismiss, we had another group photo. We simply love to take group photos Looking at their faces do cheer me up, really. Friends, at times we may be busy with our own stuffs, we may have miscommunications and misunderstandings, or we may have arguements. But no matter what, friendships extend by willingness, and it is really a two way thingie. I understand that it may not last forever, but I wish that our friendsip will be a quality one before it expires (if it will come).

The ending of every drama series and stories are usually unusual (and sometimes unexpected). It was no different for tonight’s gathering.

Sorry lizards, I leaked it out to the public! Ops!

Had a great night, hope you did too.

We always eager for good food on Saturday night, and today it was not an exceptional night. We had a few thoughts before we both agreed on giving the Japanese grill place in Cuppage a try. I remember we once walked by and saw a few Sifu’s who are actually Japanese. We thought it would worth a try to figure out how Japanese this place is. And tonight we proved that our expectation was right. This is the most Japanese’s Japanese place I’ve been before.

We went in and were served at a small table for two. Overall the place is not big, just nice to fit in tables for approximately 20+ people, plus counter seats for less than 10. It was a nice little space that makes you feel like you are really in Japan

Right, none of their food list comes with any photos. Anyway we should be pleased since their menu still has English translation.

We spent a few minutes before deciding to talk to their staff, to ask for recommendations. After a while of struggling, we ordered an A-Course, Saba Shioyaki, and Kimuchi Chige Nabe. After ordering, I asked the waitress if what we ordered were enough for us. She went blank for a while, followed by a smile, and told us that the portion should be enough for both of us.

For your information, A-course comes with Vegetable Sticks, Asparamaki, Shisomaki, Okuramaki, Shiitake, Negima, Tsukune, Uzura Tamago, Liver, Ginko Nuts, Gyumiso Yaki, Prawn, Rice, Miso Soup, Pickles, and a Dessert. We later found that it is more than enough for us, and then only understood why the waitress had such reaction.

The reason why I said it’s really Japanese because each and every small details were considered properly. Their appetizers were simply notable. Stuffed red and white carrot were just nice to warm our stomach for oncoming good stuffs. Their ocha served in vintage Baba-Nyonya-like cup, taste like one of the top graded Chinese tea (普洱), fantastic!

Simply love this small little container that they used to keep the chili powder, so cute yet so compact. The face towel prepared (seen at one small corner on the photo, too bad it was cropped off) were served nicely on a wooden container that added onto the ambiance too.

Alright, food started to be served in around 5 minutes time, beginning with some grilled sticks. First served were Asparamaki, Shisomaki, Okuramaki and Shiitake. The idea of having meat encapsulating the vegetables is brilliant. And it tasted brilliant too.

Coming next was the vegetable sticks, accompanied with some sauces. It was so fresh, and so nice to eat it just like that without cooking.

Then there came our Kimuchi Chige Nabe. It was heated with charcoals, unlike some other places where they all used flame gels to heat the soup. Don’t be surprise, the fire was not actually purple, it’s the lousy white balance of my camera phone that got fooled…

Peeked from the hole on the side, the flame plus the wordings on the ceramic pot holder, so cool.

I had to give them thumbs up on the soup base, it was so concentrated that we both like it a lot. Simple serving, yet tasty. Charged at S$11, we felt that it was worth it altogether!

Next on the list was Negima, Tsukune, Uzura Tamago and Liver. Another set of sticks that amazed us on each bites. Especially the liver, it was out of our imaginary that how liver can be grilled this way and yet taste so nice!

Ahh, the Saba Shioyaki was ready by then. I remember there’s a stall that serve Saba at S$4.50 near my company, but that was no where close to this one. Very fresh, very grilled, very nice.

We were almost full at this time when we saw the last set of sticks being served. Ginko Nuts, Gyumiso Yaki and Prawn. Ginko offered a slight bitter taste, which in a way, unexpectedly enhanced the taste of other grilled sticks. The prawn was very fresh, so grilled that the outer was very crunchy with salt, and yet preserving the inner juicy meat. Very well done!

I missed the photograph of their dessert, but it was a small bowl of red beans with mua-chi. This is the part that I finally could complain on. They should have used charcoal to boil the red beans, but I couldn’t taste the charcoal out of it! Hahaha..

We paid S$70 for the meal, and it was a satisfied and finger licking good meal! Overall, I would give our dining experience at Kushigin @ Cuppage a high 9/10 rating! This is the place where I will definitely introduce to my friends, and where I will not be hesitated to revisit it again in near future!

We both felt glad that we gave this place a try. Maybe you should, too.

This is my first outdoor portrait photography ever. I had a 2-mins studio portrait shooting, on an old man with long beard, but this one is totally different from that. No preset lighting, no set-ups, 5 amateur photographers without portrait shooting experience, and an inexperienced (but outgoing) model - Olive. And the best part is that - we went to Old Changi Hospital.

I was on my Canon EOS 400D with 24-105L F4 lens. It was a difficult choice between this zoom lens and 50mm F1.8. F4 aperture is too much for a focused bokeh portrait feel (which can be fixed by shooting at long range), while 50mm prime is slightly too restrictive and long for indoor. To start with, I thought I would use a zoom lens instead, to compensate for more flexible focal range.

While it is definitely not the best one can do, it was a satisfying session with the friends.  We all had fun, had slight experience, and had made our cameras more justifiable now (haha).. What’s more it was my first outdoor portrait shooting, can’t ask for more!

Do have a look and let me know what you think, if you feel like doing so

Blissful Olive

Linear Olive

Uncertain Olive

Peeped Olive

Posing Olive

Focused Olive

Free Olive

Doubtful Olive

Ponder Olive

Stretched Olive

Arrogant Olive

Noble Olive

Lone Olive

Cheerful Olive

I live in Singapore and my brother in Penang Island, Malaysia.
We are both from Kota Bharu, Kelantan Malaysia.
We are both living on islands now.

Last week I had a chance to meet up my brother and parents at Penand Island, Malaysia. Our family is so small that we can actually arrange our meet up anywhere other than our hometown, at any given time.

I was exposed with Penang Island’s culture on my 5 days visit there. It is somewhat similar to Singapore since they’re both islands, except that Penang Island has more hills and mountains which obstruct much on infrastructure and accomodation development.

The contrast between the rich and the poor is obvious. Seen from this picture taken from 16th floor, you can see all the buildings you will likely be seeing in Penang Island. From the almost-million-dollar condominium (seen from the furthest), to over-million-dollar terrace houses and bungalows, to the apartments and flats, to the old wooden kampung-style houses.

Penang Island is known for their food. Penangies are so proud of their food, which in a way I have to agree with. Penang char-kuey-teow, Penang laksa are two signature food that you can find at everywhere else in the world. Good food makes happy tummies.

There are a few tourism spots too, like Kek-lok Temple, Bukit Bendera are among the two famous ones, not forgetting about Batu Feringgi.

I may not know much about Penang Island, but if you have more insights on Penang Island, please share with us!