A tasteful Gen-z wedding

From my screwed up tastebuds a couple of days ago to this...

A tasteful Gen-z style wedding dinner at The Summerhouse. The programmme started with a rapid-fire ceremony by a JP, no exhortations needed, then straight up to dinner.

Some canapes while we wait for the official dinner programme to begin. Not sure, but the top I think was something mushroomy, the bottom was kinda' pumpkin-y, not just taste-wise but also by texture.

Appetizer was this pan-seared Hokkaido scallop. Very fresh, very bouncy texture... but my salt hyper-sensitivity is still there and it tasted like the whole ocean was in my mouth. The brown sauce is Japanese curry, the white is coconut cream. The sauce combo made me think more of Okinawa's tropical beaches than chilly Hokkaido.

Tangy, zesty tomato soup. I like the simplicity of flavour and the warm comfort I got from it. The cheese ravioli floating there provided some needed mouth-play and a surprise burst of salt (again).

The main course: I chose the salmon option over the duck. No regrets. This chunk of pink lay wantonly on a mattress of risotto. The salmon was a little more done than I like, but its flavours and oils were still intact, so no complaints.

And finally, the dessert. I'd initially misread the menu as Dark Chocolate Fondue, so I was imagining either a tiny individual chocolate fountain per person (ridiculous), or everyone sticks their skewers of fruit or candy items into the nearest fountain (like Kajang satay -- slightly gross). Turns out that it actually read 'fondant', which was this cute chocolate lava cake. That made more sense.

Overall, I liked the way this wedding programme went. It was paced well, it was light-hearted, the ambience was warm, there wasn't an overwhelm of guests, the music was quiet, subtle and really in the background. Mostly, I like the DIY feel to it.

I don't know the happy couple personally. I'm my wife's plus one here, but thanks for the invite! All the best on your journey together!

Tastes weird

 Been fighting the bug for weeks, holding it off as much as I could, but it's finally won. I have flu A.

I've heard how with COVID you lose your sense of taste, but with my experience of this flu strain, is it possible that food tastes worse?

I've had the most disgusting meals over the last two days -- on food I usually enjoy. The beef daily bowl from Stuff'd was an awful mess that I forced myself to choke down for the vitamins while the only taste sensation I was getting was the salt in the ground beef to which I've become super sensitive. Same with the fried bee hoon I got for breakfast. I get that when I need to carbo load for the day and it was equally horrid with nothing more than stewed cabbage topping -- all bland with sharp spikes of salt for variety.

Weird that the best tasting thing I've had so far was the McDonald's double fish fillet that tasted as advertised... or it could just be that my ability to taste is starting to normalize again. We'll find out tomorrow.

A day at the races

Returned exhausted from the Singapore GP F1 Night Circuit qualifying round. Not there for the cars, I was there for the music. Made the rookie mistake of paying for a grandstand seat when all I really needed was a walkabout pass which would allow me access to the food and concert areas but not a view of the track.

Made good on my seat watching all 12 laps of the Porsche Carrera Cup -- one of the warm up races before the evening's main event. Some guy called Pereira won. Congrats! Abandoned my seat after that to explore the grounds.

Arriving early was an advantage. Short queues for food and toilets. For dinner, I got a $25 hamburger sando from Arigato. Medium rare burger patty topped with a cheese slice between two thick slices of white bread. It was delicious and generally kept its integrity throughout even though I was eating standing up and holding it in one hand, while being distracted by the commentary on the Jumbotron.

Wandered over to the Downtown stage to wait for the performance I paid for. It's a smaller stage, an offshoot from the main Padang stage where the big acts were performing. More on that later. I arrived at the end of a set by The Lathums (pic above). Don't know who they are but their music I could groove to. DJ Questionmark from Taiwan took over for the next hour. I went for dinner at this time.

When I returned, the peanut gallery was full of American looking and sounding people excited to party with Tom Grennan, another act I'm not familiar with. Still, his basic rock vibe was cool and had me bopping the whole time.

Tom Grennan took most of the crowd with him. I immediately advanced to about just five rows back from the stage apron, determined to hold my ground for an hour until the final performance of the night commenced. Meanwhile, the grand Padang stage lit up and sent powerful beats right across to us who were the old Esplanade. Someone thoughtfully put on the Jumbotron in front of us so we could watch DJ Alan Walker do his thing. Surprisingly, watching a DJ do his thing is as interesting as watching a conductor wave his baton at prerecorded classical music. No disrespect, but Mr Walker twiddled knobs and waved his free hand theatrically, and that's it. At least we had something to entertain us while we waited. No complaints.

And finally, the moment I and the One have all been waiting for: BABYMETAL! Making a stop in Singapore on their current world tour via the F1, performing on a small, intimate stage, and me even closer than when I was at Zepp KL three years ago! It was a short but intense session featuring their most fun, upbeat concert favourites that had us all jumping, chanting, and chorusing along (badly) the whole 50 minutes. Mandatory pix taken from between raised arms holding phones and serious-looking cameras follow:

Sorry I couldn't get a decent pix of SU. The corner where MOA and MOMO stood to engage the crowd was the least blocked.

I'm actually amazed that the pix came out this well. Must be the optical zoom and low-light AI magic of the Pixel 10.

And to make the post longer, the mandatory setlist follows:

1. BM Death
2. Pa Pa Ya
3. Metali
4. Ratatata
5. Gimme Chocolate
6. From Me To U
7. Karate
8. Road of Resistance to close out. How the crowd was able to actually make a decent circle pit on SU's command also amazes me.

A day at the races, indeed.

Fish and chips at Nosh

When I drove past a new banner ad for Nosh claiming it served the best fish and chips, I had to put it to the test. The location is about 10 minutes' walk from my residence, so there's a major plus point already.

The restaurant is cosy, catering to a small number of diners, light piano jazz over the speakers for ambience. The service was friendly and responsive, upfront about payment options which was important because 'credit card' was not on the list.

I ordered the mushroom soup and sourdough appetizer which you can see as the empty bowl in the background. The soup's consistency was not as thick as most other places suggesting it's made on-site with fresh ingredients and it was served scaldingly hot. The sourdough was fragrant, soft with a satisfyingly crunchy crust. It seemed like a waste to dunk it in the soup so I enjoyed it between spoons, appreciating the texture and flavour even sans butter.

The fish and chips was, in fact, the best I've had in a long while. I chose the halibut over the dory because, what the heck, man? Of course halibut! It came coated in a lightly crisp batter, the way I like. The halibut tasted fresh and went down smoothly while the brittle crunch of the batter provided a nice contrast of things going on in the mouth. The salad was rocket and a couple of halved cherry tomatoes splashed with a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar -- standard fare, but still rounded out the dish well.

My one mistake was in over-using the tartar sauce provided. It made the meal feel heavier than I wanted. Next time I'll ask for a sprinkle of classic salt and white vinegar, nothing fancier.

Oh, the 'chips' turned out to be interesting slices of potato cut into loose, wide spirals which they call 'sidewinders'. Never seen anything like that before. The groove on each chip suggests a machine rather than a hand cut. I ate them without ketchup 'cos they didn't need any.

A meal of this quality isn't cheap. $41 and change. So using a portion of my CDC vouchers, I let the government pay for it. Yay! A new place to use them up before they expire.

My Queen: a mental chess game in heavy metal

I'm overwhelmed right now. BABYMETAL's latest album "Metal Forth" released today along with another official MV, "My Queen" ft Spiritbox.

There are still a number of new tracks on the album that haven't had an official MV yet, so rather than reviewing the audio versions, I'll review each one as they get released as videos.

I will say, though, that overall, I enjoyed "Metal Forth". The previously released video tracks are all bangers. They're loads of fun to headbang and jump to, as already reviewed below. Which leaves the new tracks being more artistic in the musical presentation. At least, that's my first impression. Not speaking the language, I need more visuals to infer context, and I don't have that right now.

And that brings me to "My Queen". I'm picking up a serious, not fun vibe from this one. For me, it's a contemplative song, more rhythmic than melodic. BABYMETAL face off against Courtney LaPlante, Spiritbox's vocalist, on a chessboard. BM is the black queen piece, LaPlante is the opposing white queen. There is also the presence of The Evil One, so named by the credits in the YouTube description.

Through the song, the queens posture and move against each other. SU, of course, gets most of the vocals. Not to be upstaged, LaPlante gets a substantial verse that lets her vocals shine. LaPlante alternates clean, almost spoken vocals with her screams, then crescendos over screamed lines. While the song doesn't really invite the audience to sing and move along, it's still very intense, heavy and maybe even... uneasy. That dark bassline undertone creates a sense of menace that pervades all around.

The visuals suggest that this could be an anti-war song. Combatants face each other on a battlefield, but who put them there? Who's really planning the engagement? In the end, the players (The Evil One) win or lose. They can always start a new game. But it's those who've got their boots on the ground who've paid the ultimate price.

On the battlefield, even the queen is just a pawn in the player's hands.

Fantastic Four: it's all about the family

Disney-Marvel tends to focus on the family dynamic a lot. But it's only now that we finally get a long-awaited introduction to the Fantastic Four, and my favourite title growing up.

MCU's FF takes place in the 828 universe, so it's the first movie of the franchise to be set entirely outside 616. A different universe presents the opportunity to design the world differently from the usual realistic-familiar 'view outside your window'. On 828 Earth, supervillains abound, but all of them are kept in check by only one team of four superheroes. It's a world fully dependent on the four and is quite helpless without them. They, particularly Susan Storm (Vanessa Kirby), are the world's most respected policymakers. If any alien species were to land and ask to be taken to the leader, the Four would be it.

No surprise, then, that the Silver Surfer (Julia Garner) makes first contact with them, announcing the world-ending arrival of the Devourer, Galactus (Ralph Ineson), who thankfully makes an appearance as the imposing physical being he is supposed to be and not a disembodied cloud. Sue's brother, Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn), is depicted previously as a thrill-seeking pain-in-the-a**, but I'm glad that here he is able to play a key role in defeating Galactus -- using heart and brain over bravado and flame.

I love Ben Grimm's (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) character design, and I mean his physical appearance in which he appears stylishly clothed rather than just rockin' trunks the whole time, and also his personality who has come to terms with how he looks, so much so that it seems Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal) is more broken up about it than Ben is. Ben's flirting with a grade school teacher in full view of her students suggests he's not too self-conscious of his exterior. Good for him!

When we first meet the Four, they are already an established world-protecting force. Their origin is re-told in a commemorative, almost worshipful, television documentary complete with mid-century soundtrack and editing style. The vibe is upbeat, orchestral with a bombastic swing and overall very optimistic. But the main point of the opening scene is to introduce Sue's pregnancy. She's carrying Franklin Richards, the most powerful being in the MCU, bar none. But for now, he's a baby whose parents hope to give the most normal of lives to. Sure, that's gonna happen.

The plot was quite a thrill -ride, as long as we don't ask too many awkward questions about the science of how some of the plot-devices could have worked -- like how would slingshotting around a neutron star using existing inertia accelerate a non-FTL spacecraft to near lightspeed? Also, the timeline plays fast and loose with how quickly the earthlings can coordinate globally to mount a defence response, and how long it takes for Galactus to arrive despite salivating over the possibility of satiating his eternal hunger once and for all. But once he puts boots on ground zero (it's always going to be Manhattan) Sue gets to show who's the most powerful among team Fantastic.

I quite enjoyed the movie. The setting was a weird blend of old-fashioned aesthetic meets super-futuristic vibes which applies to the people, their costumes, and their personalities as well. The theme of protecting family resonates consistently throughout. It's cheesy, and done so many times already, yet it still sucks us in because wanting to belong is so integral to our emotional make-up. Done this warmly, it's a great family film that makes a solid introduction to Marvel's First Family making its 'First Steps' as the next beloved superteam in the MCU (Go, Thunderbolts!).

Kon! Kon!: BABYMETAL goes Bhangra

BABYMETAL's 'Kon! Kon!' has dropped, adding one more official MV to the tracks included in the much anticipated release of the upcoming new album, 'Metal Forth'.

The video comprises 'live' performance footage, moving away from the story form MVs of the last few releases. I haven't yet read the translated lyrics, but the overall performance looks and sounds like there's less of a narrative, and more like it should be experienced in person being one with the rest of the ONE.

I've been juicing for my health lately, and this song similarly serves up a tasty blend of mixed flavours. Musically, there's classical Indian and straight-up Bhangra, supported by a foundation of driving metal. Linguistically, there's Japanese, English and Hindi, the latter two courtesy of Bloodywood's vocalists. The choreo is also inspired by classical dance blended with the high-stepping energy of Bhangra.

The words 'Kon! Kon!', I learned some time ago, is what Japanese folks think the fox says. Without knowing much more, I guess that the song title plays into the kitsune lore somehow.

Anyway, all the songs being released for BM's fifth album suggest a return to the super fun, super catchy kind of music that 'The Other One' was missing. Yes, 'The Other One' was beautiful and jaw-droppingly artistic -- a statement that the band has developed and matured from the kids people knew them to be. There's no doubt who they are today, so it's time to bring back the fun and the 'jumping up with the fox god'.

With every track released a banger so far, the new album can't drop soon enough.