Create Your Taste Burger at McDonald’s, Raffles City, Singapore

After the end of Playmax 2015, we headed over to Macca’s, Raffles City, for supper.

The first thing that greeted us was the Create Your Own Taste kiosk – a touch-screen enabled you to build a burger from a list of burger components (bun, patty, cheese, greens, sauce, “premium additions”). Probably to fob off the kiasu-ness of Singaporeans, the only components you could order all of were the veg and the sauce.

I had a modest semolina bun with single patty, rocket leaves, sliced jalapeños, caramelised onions, swiss cheese, with ketchup and mustard sauce and Big Mac sauce.

To emphasise the whole “gourmet” experience, the burgers were delivered on wooden boards, with the unsalted fries in wire baskets. Together with wet wipes in little square packets. Salt and ketchup/chilli sauce were DIY as usual.

A sign of the times that consumers are willing to pay for the opportunity to customise (make a personal choice) about what they wish to receive?

The patty was a dry, though I was too distracted by our very interesting conversation with XH and JL to bother much.

Their account of junior college life wasn’t much different from the people the day before. I’m glad that they’re giving serious thought to answering difficult questions and not just sticking their heads in the sand. But it is rather sad how self-righteous some of their classmates are – thinking that they know what is true, but actually just following the (current) feminist, anti-Christian trend that they think is so fashionable and civilised.

This I cannot understand – we live in a society that allows us the freedom to think about all these issues and discuss them publicly; the freedom of choice based on an informed decision. Yet, from the way they have been described, these classmates act like they’ve joined a cult group, frittering away their liberty of thought and discussion for mindless mob lynching.

Chara Expo 2015

ST and I met for lunch and study at Changi City Point. A steady stream of strangely-dressed characters wandered about Expo MRT and CCP, so after study, we followed the trail to a Singapore Expo Hall where Chara Expo 2015 (facebook) was taking place.

I was excited by the preponderance of characters milling outside (though neither ST nor I could identify many of them). They seemed a mix of anime, manga, Chinese comics, and even in-game characters:

Assassination Classroom:

Tendo Pain and Konan from Naruto:

me: Eh, look, power rangers!

ST: Don’t insult them!

There is a symbiotic relationship between the cosplay fans and the rabid photographers. One photographer told me that it was absolutely rude to take photos of characters without telling them – this is not so much to do with privacy (they want their costumes commemorated) as to do with wanting to be in-character for the shot!

This was a sub-genre I’d never experienced. Fascinating!

Playmax 2015 (PM4: The Game Changer) – 18th and 19th June 2015, St. Andrew’s Cathedral

Had the most fun day at Playmax 2015 (facebook), a bi-annual carnival organised by Singapore Youth for Christ at St. Andrew’s Cathedral, City Hall.

This was no cheesy funfair, but a life action role playing game (LARPG). Was incredibly impressed by the military-steampunk sets and costumes – built mostly from scrap and cast-offs,

the graphics and music and dramatic sequences that moved the narrative along,


the seamless game play, and the very fun station games…all done by the staff of SYFC and volunteers, over the course of 2 years.






Here’s the narrative context:

More than fighting oppressive regimes in a fictional world, trying to change the course and ending of our fictional raider/resistance etc. lives, there’s trying to change the course and ending of our real lives. And this isn’t about fighting whatever happens to be the popular “oppressive regime” of the day – that merely replaces one “oppressive regime” with another – and this isn’t just limited to political oppression but dietary fad oppression, relationship oppression, career dis-satisfaction oppression…

It is realistic to say that we will not be completely happy in this world. There will never be perfect peace, justice, love, relationships…yet our yearning for them suggests that there is some residual knowledge, common to humanity about how things once were – when God first created a world, a perfect world.

What happened? Well, rebellion happened. A wrong rebellion against a God who was perfectly good and perfectly loving, yet accused of being corrupt and oppressive. And so man destroyed the rest of creation. Cue: natural disasters and man-made disasters. A life lived in fear of being killed by accidents and the evil of others. A life hurting from broken relationships, and hurting others in turn.

No good can come from being separated from the God we rebelled against.

But then imagine this God is so good and so loving that he is determined to bridge the gap between evil sinful humanity and his holy self.

How can this be done? By someone taking our rightful punishment (eternal death) on our behalf!

Who could possibly do this? A man so perfectly pure and obedient that he himself isn’t guilty of any sin – God’s only Son, Jesus the Christ.

Through His life on this world, Jesus showed us what the perfect world ought to be: he healed the sick, enabled the blind to see and the lame to walk again. The good news he brought was that someone at last had come to change the course of the world that was only getting more evil all the time.

By Jesus’ death on the cross, he paid the punishment that was meant for us because of our sin. If we accept this, we are brought back into relationship with God!

By Jesus’ resurrection, he proved that he had conquered death and is alive to bring us who trust in him, into a new world that we can look forward to.

This Lou Fellingham song, via Phatfish comes to mind:

There is a day
That all creation’s waiting for,
A day of freedom and liberation for the earth.
And on that day
The Lord will come to meet His bride,
And when we see Him
In an instant we’ll be changed.

The trumpet sounds
And the dead will then be raised
By His power,
Never to perish again.
Once only flesh,
Now clothed with immortality;
Death has now been
Swallowed up in victory.

We will meet Him in the air
And then we will be like Him,
For we will see Him, as He is,
Oh yeah!
Then all hurt and pain will cease,
And we’ll be with Him forever,
And in His glory we will live,
Oh yeah, oh yeah!

So lift your eyes
To the things as yet unseen,
That will remain now
For all eternity.
Though trouble’s hard
It’s only momentary,
And it’s achieving
Our future glory.

Nathan Fellingham
Copyright © 2001 Thankyou Music
CCLI Number: 3359080

Street Art or Graffiti? Somewhere in Melbourne

Lively street art or illegal graffiti?

Rankins Lane

Rose Street

Probably not-approved work-in-progress off Rose Street:

Whereas Grace Cafe (facebook, 76 Rose Street) had someone come in to paint the divine *poke*:

And round the back, a re-purposed shipping container:

And just across Brunswick Street:

Meanwhile, on Hosier Lane, someone is covering virgin territory:


















And even the laneways have not been spared:

Along Lygon Street, Carlton, Melbourne

The different cultural sectors of Melbourne have been a source of delight.

Lygon Street is the Italian enclave, where, it has been said, all tensions were eased when Italy beat Australia in the World Cup and the gelato shops all handed out free scoops to celebrate.

The D.O.C. Gastronomia Italiana group includes an espresso bar, a delicatessen, and two mozarella & pizza bars.

We loved the authentic Italian provision shop look and feel of the delicatessen where a man was cutting up fresh spinach pasta under hanging legs of ham, and two older man came in, giving greetings and orders in rapid Italian, with many hand gestures:

Next door at D.O.C. Espresso (326 Lygon Street), we settled down for warmth and a meal:

Both the spaghetti pomodoro and black rice salad(?) were excellent. The milk coffee was dark-tasting, as per Italian standards.

A few shops away, was a spice house with the German name, Gewürzhaus (342 Lygon Street, Carlton):


All the spices I’d ever seen in recipes and despaired of obtaining! Salts of various kinds including a black lava salt! And pink salt bowls!

And then, just across the intersection, Pidapipó (299 Lygon Street, Carlton), an amazing gelateria:

Seriously, nutella from a tap? Bring it on!

Affogato with vanilla ice-cream? Yes please.

Chewy pistachio ice-cream in a fresh cone, topped with Honeyfingers honeycomb. Yum. The honey was fragrant and the comb, not too waxy:

A little further one, a real-life bookshop! We enjoyed browsing at Readings (309 Lygon Street) before taking a tram down, past Donnini’s enticing fresh pasta shop,

to the long Lygon stretch to Rumi Restaurant (facebook, 116 Lygon Street):

Our waiter was originally from Canada, in Melbourne to train in rowing. He brought hot water on this tray, in these little pots.

Despite the waiter’s best efforts, we can’t say we enjoyed this meal very much after waiting more than 40 minutes for the food. There was no variation in taste in each dish and the fish tasted distinctly fishy. The unspoken grump was that we might have spent far less for greater satisfaction at a pizza joint instead.

Some Nibbles and Meals in Melbourne

After hanging out at Rose Street Market for a bit, we headed over to Hammer & Tong 412 (facebook, rear 412 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy)

There was a slight industrial-scavanged look going on, with old irons holding up the menus in the shopwindow, pepper and salt in lab beakers, and the occasional mis-matched furniture.

We were there for the soft-shell crab dog, with black sesame dog slaw, coriander and sriracha sauce mayo, but could not resist trying the miso corny ice-cream dessert (miso and sweetcorn ice-cream with toasted sesame). The ingredients in both worked very well together. A good little pick-me-up before dinner.

Feast of Merit (facebook, 117 Swan Street, Richmond) was in the next suburb. What it had going for it was an even more industrial-distressed look – bare brick walls and rafters and naked hanging bulbs, and a very good conscience – a social enterprise YGAP restaurant.

 “What would you recommend?” I’d asked two people who’d been there for a birthday celebration. “Anything’s good! Everything’s good!” they’d replied,”But remember to book, and remember there’s a second seating…”

We decided it was a good time as any to have ox tongue (grilled ox tongue, res el hanout, sour milk, baby radish) to start – delicious tender, flavourful pieces of meat. A good sign.

We continued with the eggplant (roasted eggplant, smoked yogurt, harissa oil, pinenuts, parsley), carrots (heirloom/ common carrots, honeyed tahini, soft egg, dukkah spices), and a beef shank on celeriac mash: All absolutely delicious – good flavours and textures. Thus fortified, we headed back out into the windy winter night.

Hot chocolate was on the agenda another cold winter afternoon. One of our party refused to cross Collins Street to the Koko Black salon because of an apparent suicide she’d experienced the day before along that very street (it turned out the man survived). So we ended up at Lindt Chocolate Cafe (271 Collins Street, Melbourne CBD):

The hot chocolate was a little too sweet – I’d have preferred more cocoa content, but the signature drink of espresso and chocolate was terrific – a good complex taste.

The Cup of Truth

We passed the board indicating the shops that dwelt underground, in the subway to Flinders Street Station. One name jumped out – “Cup of Truth” it said, matter-of-factly. It was so incongruous it made me laugh – like finding the Holy Grail at the back of a dusty charity shop, labelled “Holy Grail – used. 99p”.

Cup of Truth (facebook, 12 Campbell Arcade, Degraves Street Subway, below Flinders Street) was infact a purveyor of coffee, and a rather famous one at that. The shop was named for the large red cup on the counter where customers were to pay and pick up change; the honesty cup.

In the hopper for espresso was a Cup of Truth blend from Axil Coffee Roasters. While waiting, had a little chat with the barista about how the Technivorm compared with a Wilfa, and how the consistency you get from an EK grinder made so much difference to the final drink.

We sat in the subway tunnel sipping our drinks. I very much enjoyed my flat white – almost as fragrant as an Ethiopian, even though the advertised blend on their FB page is 75% Brazil Ipanema, 25% Costa Rica El Pilon.

Then some of us wandered around – across from the coffee-in-the-wall, a singing Italian barber and a publisher of self-zines. Others of us went to get our Mykis topped up, not wanting to cheat the public transportation system.

 

Ah, the cup of Truth.

I thought of the Bible study group I’d been visiting back in Singapore – full of philosophy postgrad students and Oxon graduates, yet even with their obvious ability to read and comprehend vast stacks of material, they did not seem able to understand the most important book of all – the Bible.

It bothers me greatly that though they have such a treasure in their hand, they have shown themselves unable to enjoy the richness it contains. On their bookshelves, on their mobiles and laptops, the fountain of truth, containing living water that endlessly refreshes awaits, yet they have barely had a little sip to sustain themselves on the journey.

And any attempt I make to get them to look more closely at God’s word is seen as disruptive. Sure, it does rather break up the pointless meandering, but perhaps that’s exactly what’s necessary.

Coffee and Late Breakfast and Brunch in Melbourne

Brunch and coffee spots, said several Melburnians, were all the attractions we needed to pay attention to in this city. To aid our quest,

Broadsheet – Melbourne

The Urban List – Melbourne

Concrete Playground – Melbourne

City of Melbourne – Winter Guide 2015

Hidden Secrets Tours Melbourne

Smudge Eats

In Love With Brunch

Thus informed, our mornings became a week-long pilgrimage. This isn’t a buzzfeed list of Melbourne’s “top ten cafes you must visit before you die!”, but some favourites that we managed to get to. Of course, any casual review is profoundly subjective, affected by the weather that day, my mood, the interaction with the people I was with etc:

The Kettle Black

Instagram-worthy? Tick.

Design-savvy? Tick.

The Kettle Black (50 Albert Road, facebook)’s classic but fresh interior design was courtesy of Studio You Me (Kestie Lane, Hana Hakim). A real delight to the eyes after all the faux-industrial cafes we get in Singapore. Cafe design is truly a thing in Melbs and the rest of the Antipodes – there’s even the Eat Drink Design Awards to highlight this.

And even the plating of the food was excellent. Festooned with edible flowers, a riot of colours, you might be forgiven for expecting that brunch that looks this good must be without substance. But these (especially the hotcake and beef burger), like math-teacher-male-supermodel Pietro Boselli, exceeded expectations.

Above: the hotcake with ricotta, blueberries, pure maple, double cream and seeds; Cape Grim fully-traceable beef with house-made mustard, seasonal fruit relish and leaves on the Kettle black bun; fresh crayfish in an ash roll, with purslane and local leaves, lime and yuzu mayo.

Square One Coffee Roasters provided the house blend of 50% Ethiopian Wote and 50% Guatemala Santa Isabel. The chocolate-toffee notes were strong in my cup – interesting how un-citrusy it was, especially given the African-Latin American blend.

Manchester Press

On the other side of the Yarra River, down a little alley, there is Manchester Press (facebook, 8 Rankins Lane).

It’s housed in one of those spaces off Little Bourke Street that was once an industry useful in the last millenium – a printing press. Some might call this gentrification, but that is perhaps too narrow a view; perhaps this changing use of space indicates the succession of generations, as observed by John Adams:

The science of government it is my duty to study, more than all other sciences; the arts of legislation and administration and negotiation ought to take the place of, indeed exclude, in a manner, all other arts. I must study politics and war, that our sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. Our sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history and naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry and porcelain.”

We are of the cafe-hopping generation, with the luxury to indulge in whimsical fancies. But soon, as the circle of history turns, our children might have to study politics and war.

For now, we can indulge in chia seed and coconut pudding with passionfruit coulis, topped with toasted oats, dried cranberries, and fresh berries, and edible flowers;

and Texas BBQ style pulled pork, slow roasted for 14 hours, soaked in BBQ sauce, and topped with homemade slaw and pickles in a very good chewy bagel;

and toasted blueberry bagel with whipped raspberry mascarpone, fresh strawberries, and crushed pistachios;

and talk about how good the flat white is here – 8oz Coffee Co. providing the house blend that tasted so much like rich chocolate milk, I had to check that no one sneaked a cocoa dusting into my cup. Delicious.

Brother Baba Budan

Just out Rankins Lane, on the corner with Little Bourke Street, is Brother Baba Budan (twitter, 359 Little Bourke Street), named for the chappie who smuggled 7 coffee seeds out of the Middle East, thus breaking their hegemonic powers in the caffeine world, liberating the oppressed etc.

This cosy cafe with its distressed walls and chairs hanging precariously overhead is a Seven Seeds Coffee Roasters outpost. I didn’t know if the blend was too light to come through the milk in the flat white or if it was a barista error – a decent cup, not a destination cup. The latte-drinker liked his milk drink much better than the one he got at Manchester Press though.

Captains of Industry

And then, just on the next alley off Little Bourke, Captains of Industry (facebook, Level 1, 2 Somerset Place) – describing themselves ironically (i think) as “The practitioners of Captains of Industry are Practical Men of Wide Experience offering the Good, the True and the Beautiful in traditional men’s outfitting and dining.”

It was a nice experience, sitting in a darkened space with naked bulbs hanging from a high ceiling, sharing the old table with an old sewing machine, or perched on the chairs looking out at fat little balls of sparrows flitting over Elizabeth Street.

The flat white was what a reasonable gentleman might like on a cold blustery day after having given the morning’s sermon on Luke 10:25-37:

²⁵ And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” ²⁶ He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” ²⁷ And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbour as yourself.” ²⁸ And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”

²⁹ But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbour?” ³⁰ Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. ³¹ Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. ³² So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. ³³ But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. ³⁴ He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. ³⁵ And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ ³⁶ Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbour to the man who fell among the robbers?” ³⁷ He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”

Axil Coffee Roasters

A little further to the east, there was a long line for brunch at Axil Coffee Roasters (facebook, 322 Burwood Road, Hawthorn) on the Queen’s Birthday (8 June). We sat outside braving the cold, warming in the winter sun.

The birthday boy bought me brunch and I bought him the Queen’s birthday cake. It was so lovely to catch up with the old boy over a seemingly-healthy (and paleo) breakky. Was encouraged by his singlemindedness and thankful for the great situation that God has put him in – to be working under a pastor who too loves the Word and trusts VK to do the job without needless overbearing oversight. We reminisced a little about MY and the people we met during our time together in London. Lurve-ly.

Dr. Jekyll Cafe

Near St. Kilda Beach with the scary clown mouth of Luna Park, is Dr. Jekyll Cafe (facebook, 107-113 Grey Road, St. Kilda).

Met an old friend there whom I hadn’t seen in decades (wow, I’ve always wanted to be old enough to say that without exaggeration!). I had the avocado and Meredith feta mash with mint and lemon on rye toast. Not being a great fan of that fatty fruit, I was under instructions to try it out on toast at least once in Melbs. Not bad actually!

HM quickly got to summarising the years that passed since our last meeting. She wanted to know how I became Christian, knowing that I was very much against it in school, and not being of the personality to follow trends. God’s grace, I said, worked out in:

• how after investigating all the hypotheses found in philosophy, science, literature, politics, psychology etc., the Christian faith proved to have the best historical veracity of claimed facts, and the best internal consistency in the historical texts compiled in the Bible;
• the Spirit working in my heart and mind so as to understand therefore, the dire state humanity is in because of our rebellion against God (by, fundamentally, not acknowledging him as God) and the gracious salvation offered by God’s son – if only we repented of our rebellion, turned, and acknowledged God as God, and Jesus as his son, who is able and will pay for the sins of the world.

She told me how she herself was getting on – wished I’d more words of assurance to offer, but those words would be empty ultimately. What she needed was God’s assurance – found, not in some whisper in the darkness, but in the comforting words of Scripture. God himself assures us about what reality really looks like, where this world is ultimately headed, and what the purpose in our life is. And so we do not despairingly “eat and drink for tomorrow we die”. Rather, we enjoy God’s gifts of food and drink and laughter in this creation, with thanksgiving to the Creator, fuel for the work to be done on earth, looking forward the new creation to come.

Mostly Tried-and-Tested Traveller Tips for Melbourne, Australia

Getting from Singapore to Melbourne

We flew Singapore Airlines (SQ207). Seatguru gives a good indication of seat layout of the Boeing 777-200 with lavatories in the middle.

This was an absolute delight to fly – a new plane that didn’t smell of a decade of pent-up butt burps and vomit and toe jam. There was ample room to stretch (at least for shortish people who don’t come up to the 1.8m mark).

Immigration at Melbourne Tullamarine Airport

Thanks to Singapore’s good relations with Australia and the e-passport feature, Singapore passport holders could clear immigration in about 5 minutes by (i) getting a SmartGate ticket; and then just (ii) getting their photo taken (has facial recognition technology really gotten so good?).

After collecting baggage, it was a snip to hand the Customs and Border Protection officers the SmartGate ticket and the Incoming Passenger Card, before making a smooth exit through the green channel.

Getting from Melbourne Tullamarine Airport to accommodation in the Melbourne City

Skybus

Taxi – we didn’t want to wait around for the Skybus so just joined the taxi rank and got a maxicab. It cost us A$66 to Collins Street (including A$8 for tolls and airport fee), but had a really good chat with the cab-driver who was originally from Cambodia and had worked first in a biscuit factory in Italy before migrating to Australia.

Getting around Melbourne City

Navigation is easy in a city laid-out in a grid.

Public Transport Victoria’s journey planner helps you find the best way of getting to your destination, because for some reason, Google Maps can’t/won’t.

Tram 35 – City Circle (aka the tourist tram) is free. It does a nice little circle around town (map) so you can orientate yourself.

Other trams are free within the, err, free zone, otherwise, a Myki (A$6 for the card alone) is necessary.

Bike Share – except that very few people seem to navigate the streets on two-wheelers.

Accommodation in Melbourne City

We stayed at Treasury on Collins. The space for 3 was luxurious, even the beds were spacious (2 king?-sized beds in the bedroom and one made-up from the sofa in the living room. The kitchen was equipped with a stove, microwave, fridge, and dishwasher. In the bathroom – a choice of bath or shower. The hairdryer and washing machine came in way handy.

Temperature in June

It was to me a balmy 8-15°C, an ideal temperature for the good life. The others weren’t quite as enthusiastic.

The Sushi Bar (Far East Plaza) and the Non-objectivity of Moral Theory

Dinner at The Sushi Bar (facebook. #04-28, Far East Plaza) was, in the end, a happy affair. L grumbled at first about how the prices compared with Sakuraya Fish Market, but was later won over by the quality of the sashimi – fresh and sweet.

It was not without a tinge of sadness though that it became obvious that we had little in the way of common topics of conversation now, despite being roaring good friends a decade ago. I should have found a way to talk about my current intellectual obsessions – but they probably aren’t L’s cup of tea anyway…

Was chatting with NC tonight about my frustration at how discussions about moral theory fall into the same problems as that regarding the existence of God. And while it is easy to state the negative – what moral theory must not be based on (usually, Organised Religion), it has been more difficult for philosophers to state positively what common objective morals are (Dworkin’s morons?) and how they can be derived. All efforts trip themselves up with a priori presumptions.

NC claimed that one can speak of moral theory without referring to ultimate values, and sent me over to Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy’s entry on justice in public reason. The objections in paragraph 7 articulated much of my own views on the theories. NC also recommended John Rawls’ early Outline of a Decision Procedure for Ethics.

Sadly, none of this was satisfactory. The strategy of a procedure for ethics is questionable: after all is this “reasonableness” that the “competent” judge is to have? What is  the “rule of common sense” that he is to apply?

It comes back to the fact that there is a inviolable three-way nexus between ontology, epistemology, and ethics (of which, I assume, moral theory is part). Any heuristic device needs to address all three of these guardians. There is no point trying to trying to prohibit the use of divine revelation if one runs into problems of a similar kind using human reason. Does this mean that most discussions must inevitably be apologetic and evangelistic?

“Look, mate. It’s not that I want to bring religion into the public square, but how can we even begin to talk when you think you have complete autonomy to construct your own idea of right and wrong, and I insist that only God determines what is right and wrong? Therefore, we need to talk first about who’s mad and who isn’t.”