Saw an interesting post in a local forum recently. It was talking about how the emergence of franchise food courts in Singapore is harming the authenticity of Singapore food. In recent years, we have seen many food courts sprouting all around our tiny island. The usual culprits are Food Republic, Kopitiam and Kou Fu. With all due respect, there are still decent stalls in these various food courts.

So how can the authenticity be compromised? There are many factors that I have considered:

1) Hiring of inexperienced workers
2) Poor quality control of the food sold
3) Costing measures which lead to the purchase of lower grade ingredients
4) Lack of proper franchise monitoring system
5) Overheads that are often too costly for stall owners

All of the above 5 factors can directly, or indirectly affect the end product, which is the food being served to customers. How many times have you went to a food court, bought a plate of chicken rice at $3.50, and end up feeling that you have overpaid for something which you did not really enjoyed? I believe many will feel the same way, but they will still go to these places again, mainly due to the sake of convenience.

If you ask me where can we find authentic hawker food, I would say the old school hawker centres. There are a few hawker centres which I like to visit for their wide array of local delights, namely (not an exhuastive list):

1) Bedok interchange hawker centre
2) Bedok block 85 hawker centre
3) Marine terrance hawker centre
4) Clementi central hawker centre

So how do we prevent authentic hawker food from extinction? I guess we can only hope that the franchise food courts stop their expansion (mission impossible), or hope that the government do not think of plans to convert the land the hawker centres are on onto something useless.

Long live hawker food. :)

2009 : A brand new year, perhaps a brand new start...
Here we are again, at the start of a brand new year. Count down at Daniel's was awesome. This yearly event was a blast, just like previous years. Simply enjoyed the food, friends and place. Can't help but feel a little weird, as we leave 2008 behind, and embark on a new year. Every year at this point of time, people usually tend to look back at the past year, and think of the stuff that had occurred, both good and bad. I'm no exception, just that I don't really pen them down in my blog every year. I thought 2008 was quite a busy, as well as an eventful year for me. So many things happened...

Family
In 2008, I experienced the loss of a close one, my maternal grandpa. My paternal grandpa passed away when I was rather young, so I didn't really have much recollections about his loss. Grandpa's death was so sudden. He was like his usual self when I visited him in SGH before I left for Europe. I was in Rome when my mom called to tell me that he was in critical condition. Rushed back I did, and accompanied him during his final days. If we chose to drop chemotherapy treatment for him, he could still be around, perhaps enjoying the great seaview from the Singapore Flyer. I miss you Grandpa. Everyone misses you.
I'm thankful that the rest of my family are in good health. Dad underwent a minor operation and it went smoothly. Business is definitely on a smaller scale now but my parents need not work as much as before. Expansion plans can wait, perhaps till I graduate from university.

Friends
Friends will always be there whenever you need them. I'm blessed with having many friends around me, the closer ones being the marists and my jc buddies. Having close friends is really important, as you can turn to them for help/advice/listening ear etc. They are often the ones that help to get you back on track with life (my family too of course).

The marists have been wonderful as usual. It is amazing just how all of us made effort to keep this so called 'fellowship' alive and strong. Meet ups and gatherings are a must whenever we are free. Suan-ing each other is a norm, but having a girlfriend is not. So far only Mark, Gilbert and Zhida are attached. Keep it going guys. 加油 to the rest too.
2008 was also a challenging year for 2 of my closer jc buddies Marcus and Terrence. Both had problems with relationship, but both learnt a great deal of out it. Through Marcus I knew 2 other great friends, Xinyan and Jerlyn. Plenty of complications happened later on which is too confusing and complicated for me to explain. One of them seems to be missing already.Uni friends like Ivan and Yu Sheng proved to be awesome mates in Sydney. All the help and encouragement with life and schoolwork from them made me a more positive person than before. As many of you would have known, semester 2 2008 was a killer semester for me, without them, I wouldn't have survived.
Relationship
2009 marks the 10th year of my bachelor status. When will this curse be broken? I have no idea. Haha. Haven't gone on a date since 25th Dec 2007. Sure does bode lonely days ahead for me! Certainly hope that it doesn't get time extension to 11 years. One sms from her and I can forget the cold treatment she can throw me randomly. Damn! "Time to let go and move on with life" - by one of my friend. How true! I really need to grow up and move on. Move it!
University
Well nothing nice can be said about university in 2008. My grades fell together with the stock markets. Semester 2 was a killer semester (yes I know I like to repeat myself), as I chose not to heed others' advice and go ahead with 4 core modules which happened to be a deadly combination. Extremely late nights and insomnia became a norm (which later led to me losing 5.6 kg and growing quite a few white hairs urgh). Luckily I passed all, but my WAM suffered as a result. No longer was it a distinction average anymore, but I'm not far from it, and I'm determined to get that D back next semester.

Holidays
2008 was the year that I first step foot in Europe. Thanks to Wei Ray aka Alex, the marists and I were able to visit plenty of countries. I wasn't able to cover as much as the rest, but I'm glad to have visited places like Dublin, Edinburgh, Monaco, Madrid, Barcelona and Rome. Every country was unique in its own. I definitely want to revisit all these places in the near future. Overseas with friends truly rocks. Can't wait for our grad trip to Japan, although it won't be anytime soon. Went Hong Kong for the 2nd time in November. Simply love that place. Amazing shopping and food just makes you go back for more. Good Diu ar!

Year 2009
So what new year resolutions do I have for myself?

1) Get my grades back on the Distinction track
2) Exercise to lose weight and keep fit
3) Save more money/earn money
4) Visit more countries (Taiwan, Thailand, Bali, Japan???)
5) Brush up on musical instruments
6) Get a girl friend? (Considered a resolution? LOL)

The above are not in any order though, just some very rough ideas of what's should be achieved in 2009. Of course, I want to spend more quality time with my family and close friends. More than often I get lazy and just forget about all the targets I've set for myself. I should visit this post as and when to remind myself that I should work hard and achieve my goals.

2009 here I come.