The results of your analysis say:
You plan ahead, and are interested in beauty, design, outward appearance, and symmetry.
You are a person who thinks before acting, intelligent and thorough.
You are diplomatic, objective, and live in the present.
You are a talkative person, maybe even a busybody!
You enjoy life in your own way and do not depend on the opinions of others.
Call it "Asia Lite," call it "A Fine City," there's still a lot to love in Singapore.Everyone loves to complain about Singapore -- but you’re still here, aren’t you?
There are some very positive reasons why many are choosing to stay, rather than leave, the Little Red Dot.
It’s not just that Singapore is clean, green and safe.
And positivity doesn’t mean a cheesy, clichéd campaign slogan or overstated accolades.
Day-to-day life in Singapore can be pretty good, even if you loath to admit it.
Singapore is extremely efficient when it come to matters of business.
We don’t procrastinate or hold lengthy discussions. If it sounds good, just do it.
A building looks ugly? Just tear it down and replace it.
Thinking of setting up a shop? Already signed the lease yesterday.
Wondering when the next MRT train is arriving? Who needs a timetable? They run every five minutes.
Bureaucracy rarely keeps us waiting, and we appreciate that, unless you are waiting for a Permanent Resident application at the moment.
Things start and finish late. For the early birds, this does mean it can be a little impossible to do chores before 11 a.m., but it also means no queuing at popular spots.
At 8 a.m. you can have Orchard Road practically all to yourself. Mornings (pre- or -post rush hour) are especially peaceful and calm, perfect for walking the dog, going for a long run or just soaking up the city in relative silence.
Singapore is still lively after the sun goes down. People are walking in the streets and shops are open for business.
When you’ve forgotten an anniversary or desperately needing a new outfit for a function the next day, long retail trading hours can be critical.
And if you still live with your parents, having multiple places to chill after hours is very useful indeed.
Hawker food may be fast, but there’s nothing slap-dash about it. The aunty at the stall will spend almost as long as the hawker himself packing your noodle soup (rejigging the plastic bag, navigating the container, carefully placing the chili packet) so there is rarely any spillage.
Try ordering takeaway in other countries where they forget the chopsticks or the pizza arrives stuck to the lid and you’ll realize these small things matter, especially in the long run.
Unlike many other countries, here you only pay around S$7 for the privilege of driving right up to the restaurant instead of driving in circles searching for a covered and secure car park.
Believe it or not, at Marina Bay Sands, the valet is free (yes, read it again, free) but you determine the gratuity.
It’s safe, it’s easy and it saves dealing with the Saturday night taxi debacle.
Yes, hawker aunties again.
They may be rude but they don’t judge the way fine dining staff might.
Especially at the 24-hour places.
Want assam laksa or char kway teow at 7 a.m.? Sure. You’ll still get the same blank, slightly curt expression, no matter what time of day you order or how much extra pork lard you request.
The journey from the plane-to-cab is always within 15 minutes, including collecting your luggage, and with some fun sweets at customs on the way in.
And what about those taxi uncles and aunties? Need we say more?
Singapore’s weather is decisive.
When it rains, it rains properly. No lame drizzle and very few overcast, dreary days.
It’s either bright sunshine and blaring heat, or pouring like the world is about to end.
Either way, it’s always balmy and warm so its much easier to get dressed. The only complication is whether to bring an umbrella or not.
This makes many things simple.
Need to have an awkward conversation with your boss? It’s fine to email her even though she sits two tables away.
Wearing ridiculously high heels or refusing to show up with sweat patches? It’s perfectly acceptable to catch cabs from one end of Orchard Road to the other.
This is a culture where people love to sit down, eat, talk and do nothing; and really, it’s pretty awesome.
In Singapore there’s folks from all walks of life, from all around the globe and all extremes of income.
In one morning you can exchange a friendly banter with the cleaner at the office, share a coffee with your colleague from Malaysia, Japan, India or America and watch your boss roll into a meeting straight from his Lamborghini.
No matter race, religion or country, there are always interesting people to meet and talk with, and give us some perspective on how lucky we, in Singapore, really are.
Hong Kongers have a passion reserved just for Hong Kong food that eclipses their love for politics, shopping, gambling, and even -- gasp -- stocks. This city is home to some of the most food-obsessed people in the world and produces an alarming array of food items ranging from the stubbornly traditional to unself-conscious fusion foods, each more drool-worthy than the next. Here are a selection of 40 Hong Kong foods that make us rather not live than live without:
Unlike its more restrained Sunday brunch counterpart, Hong Kong-style French toast is for when you're stressed out and looking for a warm, deep-fried hug. It's two pieces of toast slathered with peanut butter or kaya jam, soaked in egg batter, fried in butter and served with still more butter and lots of syrup. Too much of this will send you to an early grave, but it's the perfect comfort-food combination of simple flavours and textures: sweet and savoury, soft and crispy.
Try it at Lan Fong Yuen, 6 Gage Street, Central, tel +852 2850 8683.
On paper, an egg sandwich doesn't sound very noteworthy. After all, it's just fried egg in between two pieces of soft white bread. No big deal, right? Ah, but that would ignore the genius of a good Hong Kong line cook, who can somehow turn an egg into a fluffy, finely-layered gem of stomach-warming goodness. A classic egg sandwich should be plump, full of eggy flavour and light, not greasy.
Most people swear by the Australia Dairy Company, 47 Parkes Street, Jordan, tel +852 2730 1356, Australia Dairy Company Appreciation Group Facebook page, but our favourite is the Kwong Sing Café, 10 San Shing Avenue, Sheung Shui, tel +852 2670 4501.
No doubt you will have heard or read about the stench emanating from one of the strangest foods to come out of this part of the world. But nothing can really prepare you for the stink. Smelly tofu, like durian, is one of Asia's most iconic 'weird foods.' The stench is a result of fermentation of the tofu and it is such an overpowering smell you'll be hard-pressed to shake it off for months to come. But Hong Kongers really love that stink. Well, most Hong Kongers.
Follow your nose to Delicious Food, shop 10, G/F, 30-32 Nullah Road, Prince Edward, tel +852 2142 7468.
Dirt-cheap, kitschy and consistently delicious, Denmark Cake Shop’s Hong Kong-style cheeseburgers are reminiscent of the good old days pre-McD domination. The rundown eatery’s HK$9 burgers don’t fit the burger archetype, but it’s just as good, if not better: it’s palm-sized, minimalist (ketchup, home-made mayo, half a slice of processed cheese) and is encased in a slightly sweet Hong Kong-style butter roll. The patty is heavily seasoned and moist, attracting lines of schoolchildren since the shop opened in 1972. Denmark Cake Shop, G/F, 106 Leighton Road, Causeway Bay, tel +852 2576 7353.
Sweet tofu soup is one of those deceptively simple dishes whose potential for satisfaction far outweighs the complexity of its ingredients. One of the best places to try it is Kin Hing, a lean-to stall in the countryside of Lamma Island that is run by an elderly couple who serves nothing but 'dau fu faa'. It's smooth and soft, doused in a lightly sweet syrup and sprinkled with yellow sugar; the sharp sweetness of the sugar complements the musty soya flavour of the tofu.
To get there, walk from Yung Shue Wan towards Hung Shing Yeh "Powerplant" Beach.
The boh loh baau (literally meaning 'pineapple bun') is the holy grail of what may generously be termed the Hong Kong school of baking. It's firm on the outside, soft on the inside and topped by crunchy, sugary pastry. Popular enough to have been exported around the world -- step into a Chinese bakery in Toronto, Taipei or Tianjin and you're likely to find one -- it's ubiquitous in Hong Kong. It's the perfect complement to milk tea, especially if you have it with butter, a variation known as boh loh yaau.
Try it at two Mongkok cafés that are known for their buns: Kam Wah, 47 Bute Street, Mongkok, tel +852 2392 6830 and Hong Lin, 143 Tung Choi Street, Mongkok, tel +852 2391 8398.
These days, dim sum itself is a protagonist on the culinary stage. The diversity and sheer number of Hong Kong dim sum restaurants is stunning.
Noisy Cantonese joints where people eat with such determination there's a slight madness in the air; gilded, hushed dining rooms where waiters anticipate your every move; tranquil oases hidden on a mountaintop ... we've got it all here in Hong Kong.
We've picked our favorite Hong Kong dim sum restaurants to make it easy for the food-in-steam-basket fanatics. As we say in Hong Kong, please enjoy!
We've come up with 13 Hong Kong dim sum recommendations and so divided them into 3-4 per page. We've stuck a condensed version of the complete list plus addresses on the last page.
A mix of elderly folk, celebrities and drunk people on a last stop before home share tables at San Hing for a Hong Kong dim sum fix at dawn.
Located in Kennedy Town, San Hing technically opens at 3 a.m., though customers will arrive earlier to secure seats. Especially on weekends, the shop is a madhouse in the wee hours.
Staff frantically churn out a wide selection of dim sum, stacked into giant bamboo towers. Customers are perpetually hovering around the food arrival counter, while an unending stream of new customers mill about looking to snatch seats.
Photographs on the wall show Canto-pop star Eason Chan giving props to San Hing's lau sa bao -- signature yellow custard "quicksand buns."
Other San Hing specialities include quail's egg siu mai, deep-fried milk and various seasonal dishes often not listed on the menu, such as osmanthus jelly during the summer.
The cost is a bargain, with dim sum dishes ranging in price from HK$12-$17.
San Hing has been around Kennedy Town for more than 20 years, though it moved to its current location a few years ago.
San Hing 新興食家, 10 Hau Wo St., Kennedy Town, +852 2816 0616. Open daily, 3 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Also on CNNGo: 12 things about tea your dim sum restaurateur won't tell you
The first thing we encountered at Fook Lam Moon was a Rolls-Royce Phantom pulling up at the main entrance, casually letting out a rotund, weary-looking man and his two hungry, young offspring who bounced noisily to the door of the Hong Kong dim sum restaurant as though they were visiting grandma's house.
It isn't called the "canteen of the wealthy" for nothing.
Even though the joint is frequented by the rich and famous, anyone can rock up to Fook Lam Moon and feel like a billionaire.
The service is six-star-hotel-perfect without the robotic-ness. They don't overservice because, you know, celebrities just want to be left alone.
But staff have real charm that they turn on for every customer that walks through their doors. Not just wealthy regulars.
Compared with San Hing above, if you're willing to pay HK$60 for a basket of siu mai, you may as well be regarded as a high-roller.
Yes, it's expensive, but each dim sum gave our tastebuds an education.
Har gau are succulent and juicy, almost to the point of being soupy; their skins perfectly translucent. A signature shrimp cheung fun has a layer of crisp bean curd sheet to add another dimension of texture to an old standby.
The lau sa bao surpassed our favorites at San Hing. The bread casing was barely a centimeter thick and the custard filling would spill out in an appropriate visual expression of its name "quicksand bun."
Fook Lam Moon, 35-45 Johnston Rd., Wanchai, +852 2866 0663, www.fooklammoon-grp.com. Open daily, 11:30 a.m. - 3 p.m., 6 - 11 p.m.
Choi Lung Restaurant is a three-story family-run teahouse on the waist of Hong Kong's highest peak, Tai Mo Shan. It is a great place to recharge after a hike.
Go early to secure the freshest Hong Kong dim sum experience in this self-service teahouse. Diners have to prepare their own tea and rest on simple plastic stools.
Despite the humble set-up, Choi Lung has been running for more than 40 years with a group of dedicated fans.
"People would drive all the way here from Sai Wan for a bowl of black bean ribs with rice. The rice bowls used to be made of porcelain but people kept dropping them so we switched to stainless steel," says waitress Shek Wai Ling.
We recommend the bean curd sheet wraps filled with chicken, taro and fish maw. The taro is cooked just through with a crunchy outer layer, the chicken is very tender and the fish maw is juicy.
A vegetable stall outside Choi Lung's front door is also well known for selling locally grown produce.
In November, the restaurant will serve fresh watercress purchased directly from the farms nearby, which Shek promises to be "very sweet and rarely found."
Visit Choi Lung at weekends as some dim sum are not served on weekdays, such as the black sesame rolls.
Choi Lung Restaurant 彩龍茶樓, 2 Chuen Lung Estate, Route Twisk, Tsuen Wan, +852 2415 5041. Open daily 5 a.m. - 3 p.m.
To get there, take a taxi from Tsuen Wan station for around HK$60 or take minibus 80 at Chuen Lung Street near Tsuen Wan wet market.
So, how do you eat sushi, the quintessential Japanese delicacy of vinegared rice topped with raw fish and other ingredients? With your fingers? With chopsticks? Dipped into soy sauce; daubed with wasabi? One mouthful or two?
The only certainty, it seems, is that its proper consumption demands both etiquette and practicality. To put the matter to rest, we enquired at the top: Sushi Sawada, on Tokyo’s most prestigious intersection of Ginza 4-chome.
With two Michelin stars and only seven seats, Sawada is a shrine to this single wondrous dish -- and to straight-talking master Koji Sawada’s constant quest for perfection.
Sawada's technique for the perfect sushi experience:
There’s a simple reason for inverting your sushi: the molded rice base will disintegrate if dipped directly into soy sauce. The rice will also soak up too much sauce, ruining the flavor balance.
However, if you’re lucky enough to score a seat at Sawada, you won’t be concerned with the dipping step. Like many top sushi masters, Sawada seasons each piece with his own soy sauce blend or a sprinkle of sea salt before serving, hence no need to dip.
“But the rest is the same,” says Sawada. “The fish should touch the tongue first.” Most mainstream sushi-ya (sushi restaurants) expect customers to dip, and you’ll find soy sauce dishes on the counter. Soy sauce is called “murasaki,” meaning “purple,” in sushi-speak.
by Neil Harman
|16.11.2011
© Getty ImagesRafael Nadal has completed the career 'Golden Slam', but has yet to add the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals title to his impressive collection.Ever-sensitive Rafael Nadal admits he is a reluctant warrior at times, but also finds that the battle - more than winning alone - gives him the greatest satisfaction.
Read Rafael Nadal’s recently published biography – rather unimaginatively titled Rafa: My Story – and one of the first things you’ll notice is that he often cries.
As great a champion as he is, Rafa has had plenty to be weepy about during his 25 years: those glorious moments, the troughs of despair (Do you remember his distress at Wimbledon this year when, in the fourth round, he thought he’d damaged his left ankle?), the profound sadness of his parents’ marriage breakdown two years ago, the highs and lows that beset any warrior.
Yet throughout it all his most valuable personal traits have remained constant: utter fearlessness on court and chivalrous niceness away from it. Despite the thousands of miles he has travelled, the thousands of hands he has shaken, the thousands of interviews he has given, the thousands of vicious winners he has struck, those basic elements of the Spaniard have never changed and never will.
“I fight all the time to win every match. I appreciate the result”
One is often asked: “Is he really as nice as he seems?” The answer, quite simply, is “Yes”. He remarks that his parents, Sebastian and Ana Maria, were always very strict with him as a child, telling him to remember his pleases and his thank-yous, and to sit up straight at the dinner table, and not to talk with his mouth full. Well, we all attempt to do that with our children, but it doesn’t always work out.
To keep true to those tenets when people worship you and fall at your feet is not easy. Put yourself in his shoes (which he never puts on without untying the laces first) and imagine wrestling with the demands of being the No. 1 sportsman in your country and maintaining the discipline and single-mindedness required to succeed in a sport like tennis.
Of course, everyone can relax away from the spotlight. To get a true insight into what Rafa is like you need to witness him playing his beloved golf. He treats this sport as seriously as any set of tennis, and has frustrated many a golf partner by insisting on searching interminably for a lost ball.
Even for friendly rounds he has to be fully prepared. Last year in Indian Wells, for example, he was about to tee of with his occasional coachFrancisco Roig and the former Roland Garros finalist Alex Corretja when, suddenly, he leapt back into his buggy and disappeared back to his hotel.
But these are the times of freedom, when Rafa can escape the confines of what he does for a living. Tennis is a mean business, especially at the very top, where Rafa has resided for several years, including 88 weeks as the World No. 1. He has won 10 Grand Slams, completing the full set at the US Open in 2010, and he has lost in four other finals, most recently to Novak Djokovic.
While 2011 is undoubtedly Djokovic’s year of all years, the man who has pressed this Serb harder than anyone else has been Rafa. Djokovic is now the Spaniard’s most distinct nemesis – an enemy of sorts, though Rafa could never bring himself to say the word.
After the US Open in September, when Djokovic won in four gripping sets in what many considered one of the top five matches of the past 30 years, Rafa said the following: “I didn’t feel any obligation to win the tournament. I am not one that feels that [only reaching] the final is a bad result. I don’t consider myself that good. I fight to be always there. I fight all the time to win every match. I appreciate the result. [Reaching] the final is a fantastic result. It’s smart to accept the losses with the same calm as the victories, and to keep working without thinking on the past.
“I was in the final of Wimbledon, final of US Open. I fought in both of them, especially this one. I went back to Spain [from New York] happier than after the Wimbledon final, because after New York I think I am on the right way to beat [Djokovic]. After Wimbledon I didn’t feel that.”
“If the job I did was easy, I wouldn’t take so much satisfaction from doing it so well”
Whether he’s piecing together the reasons for a loss; or rejoicing in the love of victory, after which comes the downtime when he wonders if he can possibly do it again, Nadal speaks freely of moments when doubts have assailed him. In the next couple of weeks, as he spends Christmas at home with his family in Manacor, a peaceful retreat on the island of Mallorca, he will take himself off to think about the tests to come.
On the one hand there is enthusiasm for the weeks ahead, tinged with a sense of gloom if things do not go right. “I know only too well how remorselessly grinding the tour can be,” he says. The majority of his time is spent far from home, away from those he loves, those he grew up with and in whose company he can truly be himself. It is in these moments, sometimes openly, sometimes to himself, that he sheds a tear. “Sometimes this is a battle I wish I didn’t have to fight again,” he confesses. “But if the job I did was easy, I wouldn’t take so much satisfaction from doing it so well.”
