why mca?

by comedy court

the triangular indian curry puff

one type of curry puff that we do not see much of these days is the large, triangular, indian curry puff. i suppose if you go to tekka market or the serangoon road area, you may be able to get it without too much difficulty. i enjoyed eating this curry puff in my younger days and i still do. i like it when it is hot, and i like the hard and crispy edges. in those days, there was one type of filling only - curry potato.

i remember there was this indian shop at the corner of owen road and dorset road. the sikh shop owners would bake these triangular curry puffs in a stone oven, the type of oven they use for baking naan and pizzas in some places. i would go and buy it in the evening when it was freshly baked. if i remember correctly, it was ten cents a piece, which was quite worth it because it was big and much more filling (for the stomach) than the malay epok epok.

another way i used to get to eat this puff was to buy it from this sikh man who came around the kampong on a bicycle to sell bread. he also sold these curry puffs. as it was quite a mouthful (to eat, not to say it) for us small boys, we would request him to cut it into two equal pieces. he would do this using a pair of scissors.

today, i came across mention of a shop in joo chiat, along onan road, which sells a very good variety of this curry puff. anyway, i bought mine from a shop in my neighbourhood for $1.10. back in those days, it cost 10 or 15 cents a piece.

a check with my friends indicate that not everybody was particularly fond of eating it. the complaints were: it was too oily; it was too flaky; and they were quite stingy with the filling.

netted or veiled stinkhorn

today, we walked the prunus-petai trail. nah, betty and i had to wait more than thirty minutes for 'the bendemeer gang' who were caught in a massive traffic jam, no thanks to the new leonie flyover.

as we were walking back, nah pointed to a plant on the track and exclaimed 'mushroom'. i looked and thought someone had placed a protective covering over the plant. the mushroom was enclosed in a lacy, pink, net-like veil. it reminds me of roti jala. on closer examination, we found a lot of tiny flies and small insects inside the net.

two caucasian lady joggers who joined us to admire the netted stinkhorn provided us with more information on it. one of them said that she had come across a similar stinkhorn, with a larger pink veil at the beginning of the prunus trail. the other enlightened us on the name and explained that the stink attracts insects to the mushroom. some sources say that you will smell the stinkhorn before you see it. we actually did not get a whiff of anything.

"their method of reproduction is different than most mushrooms, which use the air to spread their spores. stinkhorns instead produce a sticky spore mass on their tip which has an odor of carrion, dung, or other things that attract flies. the flies land on the stinkhorn and in doing so collect the spore mass on their legs and carry it to other locations."

safra yacht club @ admiralty road west

if you love listening to the sound of the waves lapping on the shore and taking in the sight of our northern neighbour, you can do it at the safra yacht club. the club located at admiralty west is open to the public. as a non-member, all is required of you to gain admission to this place is to register yourself at the security post.

in the past, you had to surrender your identity card at the entrance to the army guards before being allowed into the base. today, there is no such restriction. some friends have celebrated their birthdays at the club before. i remember we had a bbq there to celebrate either jim or freddie's birthday.

the food is so so and the prices are quite reasonable. it is soothing to be seated by the side of the sea while enjoying your food. there is a bar and a karaoke lounge next to the restaurant aptly named gallery by the straits. my friend, who has eaten there, recommends the fish-head curry.

for entertainment, there is live music on friday, saturday and sunday's nights.

two kampong mosques

these two kampong mosques have a few things in common. they are the old style mosques built to serve the kampong folks living around it. in both cases, the residents have been resettled and have moved out of the respective areas for sometime already but the mosques continue to serve the people. both mosques are nearly 50 years old; the one at jalan mempurong - masjid petempatan melayu sembawang - is about 48 years old and the other is 46 years old. both mosques have undergone upgrading. the sembawang mosque was upgraded recently and it has been designated a national heritage site. the other mosque, built in 1962, was rebuilt in 1999.

quiz questions:

where is this second mosque? jalan ibadat, off choa chu kang road; opposite keat hong camp

what is its name? al' firdaus mosque