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Driving home from work on a hot Saturday, I wondered what I might fix for lunch. The heat was both inspiring and un-inspiring at the same time. No hot noodles soups eh? Something Mediterranean I thought. Hmmm. Some version of Nicoise salad would fill the hole nicely.
Popped by the local supermarket to pick up some salad leaves and was home fixin grub in no time. Put the kettle on. Chop up finely some pickled beets and cucumber made a week ago, throw in a sprinkle of dehydrated chopped onion (great for quick vinaigarettes), dash of moutard. Right. Wash the Romaine, roughly chop, ditto red and yellow cherry tomatoes (I love them..mmm-mmm) Open can of "naturally smoked red salmon" (how salmon becomes naturally smoked is another question).
Right. Water's boiled, put egg in, pot, pour water over, bring to boil. Assemble salad. Fish egg out, just nicely coddled with firm whites and runny yolk. Plop over, dash of black pepper, drizzle extra virgin olive oil. Serve with toasted English Muffins with Cream Cheese.
Yum.
Yesterday's dinner was at Tian Jin Hai. For those who watched Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations filmed in Singapore, it is the stall where he ate steamed shark's head & chilli crab with K.F. Seetoh. It was located in Jackson Centre Kopitiam along Macpherson Road but that building has been demolished. The restaurant's new location is in Marina Country Club.
Google Earth showed us nicely where this might be. Drove down SLE, TPE and down Punggol Road. It looked quite far away. Hope food worth petrol with pump prices the way they are. "Just drive till you fall into the sea" my navigator and co-foodee said. "Don't worry, there isnt any other building at the end of this road."
Parked outside Marina CC (free) and marvelled at a pair of fishermen struggling to carry a HUGE stingray to their car. (it must have been 3ft wide and had a 6ft long tail). "we just came back from fishing" one of them said. Well, they couldn't have taken it from the restaurant right?
Anyway, back to the quest for gooey cartilage. Walking into a rather 70s era styled seaside chinese restaurant, we were met by very attentive staff (10/10!) and shown to a "outside" table, with views of the marina (and shipyards in the distance). Made me feel like I was on holiday, all this sea breeze, the prospect of good seafood, sandals on my feet, slightly hot and sweaty...
The food lived up to its reputation. 
Shark's head was delicious - steamed to gooey tenderness, it slipped down the throat easily. Bland in itself, it was a perfect foil for the very Cantonese ginger-garlic soy sauce. We scrapped every last bit off the bone (cartilage to be precise). No eye-balls to fight over tho. Fingers sticky, we tackled the perfect steamed crab. I don't care what people say about chilli crab, crab beehoon - the best way to savour the sweet and delicate flavour of fresh crab is to have it steamed. Plain. Unadulterated. It didn't die in vain. Wah! The claws were the largest I have eaten in a long time. Every bit of meat came out easily, beautifully . Last of all the salt and pepper squid. A bit disappointing. 
Came covered with a batter, when we expected dry fried and dusted with white pepper and salt. Anyway. It made great beer food. (I tell you where we had the best salt pepper squid recently - New Ubin Seafood in Sin Ming Industrial Estate, next to car workshops).
Tummies full, we paid, thanked them and wandered a bit around the place while food digested. 3 stories of covered dry dock for pleasure boats - that was a new thing for me. Also a few wake-boarding establishments, steamboat/satay stalls.
I think I shall come back here again. Not for sea sports but for more seafood.
Oh BTW Punggol Seafood is also in the same building.
Time is precious. Every individual's time is precious. We should not waste our time, neither should we waste people's time.
We waste people's time when we do not keep our appointments & cancel them the very last minute. People take time to prepare for the meeting, & travel to the venue.
Not only do we waste their time, we do not show them due respect.
Your time is as equally important as my time.
Driving home from work on a hot Saturday, I wondered what I might fix for lunch. The heat was both inspiring and un-inspiring at the same time. No hot noodles soups eh? Something Mediterranean I thought. Hmmm. Some version of Nicoise salad would fill the hole nicely.
