name the restaurant that was in this building

there used to be a popular chinese/cantonese restaurant in this building. i ate there once or twice. i remember the old fashioned lift with a collapsible gate. i think the restaurant was then on the second or third floor.

(1) what was the name of the restaurant?

(2) where is its present location?

(3) what was the dish that it claimed to have 'invented' in 1964?

(4) who were the four culinary kings of singapore?

cooking my own pizza paste

most people when they make their own pizzas choose to use commercially produced pizza paste. i prefer to cook my own paste. when the price of tomatoes is low, like now - it is $1.00 per kilogram - it is time for me to make pizza paste. whenever my daughters saw me preparing the paste, they would know that it would be pizza eating time soon.


in the past, i would buy about 4 kilograms of tomatoes; this time around, i bought only 2 kilos. i will leave the tomotoes to ripen fully before i start cooking them.


first, i will boil a pot or container of water to blanch the tomotoes. this is to facilitate the removal of the skin. when the skin of the tomatoes in the boiling water starts to wrinkle or crack, i will fish it out and dump it into a basin of tap water.

after removing the skin - which is quite an easy task - i will cut the tomato into four parts.

next, i will chop some cloves of garlic and some onions. i do not cut them too fine. i cut about 10 cloves of garlic and 2 onions. i fry the chopped onions, first, in olive oil, and then the garlic bits. this will be followed by the tomatoes. the rest of the ingredients that are added are basil leaves, bay leaves and a small can of tomato puree. other ingredients added later but not shown here include salt, sugar and a dash of black pepper.

when it starts to boil, i will turn down the flame to let it simmer for about an hour. at first, the paste will be quite watery but at the end of the one hour of simmering, it will become quite dry.

don't cry for me, argentina - jane zhang of china

celine dion and elvis presley

celine dion and elvis presley performing a duet.

siong lim temple in toa payoh

today, on our way to geylang for lunch, we made a detour for a short visit to the siong lim temple in toa payoh. although i have seen this old temple many times as i drive along the pan island expressway, this is my first visit to the temple. the claim made by some people that it is the oldest buddhist temple in singapore is disputable but i will go with the claim that it is one of the most beautiful buddhist temples in singapore.



siong lim temple is the common hokkien name of the lian shan shuang lin monastery. translated into english, it is the twin grove of the lotus mountain monastery(temple). it was built in 1902 and much of the money for building the temple came from a chinese bsinessman called mr low kim pong.

in the 1950s, the temple's land area was drastically reduced - from 40,000m2 to about half its size, 20,000m2, when part of the land was acquired by the government for public housing.

the temple was gazetted a national monument in 1980, symbolizing the social and cultural roots of the early chinese immigrants.

in spite of being designated a national monument, parts of the temple fell into disrepair as a result of neglect. certain sections of the temple had to be cordoned off as they were deemed unsafe.




major renovation works started in 1994 and works were completed in 2004. the cost of the restoration was estimated at $40 million. donations came mainly from buddhists and others in south-east asian region.

to return the temple to its former glory, carpenters, sculptors and artisans were brought in from different places in china to carry out the renovation works.

the temple now boasts a 7-storey gold-topped pagoda which is a replica of the 800 years old shanfeng temple pagoda in fujian, china.

in the same compound is a taoist temple. in fact, if you drive, you will have to pass the taoist temple before getting to the monastery. according to a friend, who is a staunch buddhist, at the moment, the maintenance of the monastery is actually funded by collection and donations received at the taoist temple.