The Connection Between Bumblebee and Mas Selamat

Its been close to a month of searching and yet there is no new leads of where the most wanted man of SE Asia is.

The whole idea of how he escaped is a definite cock-up on Singapore's security system and stamps humiliation on our country.

I saw glimpses of the news of the escape in our neighbour's newspaper, each time peppered with a certain smirk that our so-called best system has been ridiculed by the fact that Selamat escaped whilst on a toilet break.

There are too many conspiracy theories behind this escape.

Some people said that the authorities deliberately let him escape because they had implanted Selamat with some chip that could lead them to his nest of terrorists.

Others came up with an imaginative idea that he performed black magic such that his disappearance went unnoticed.

If that is the case, I believe that my family's turtle, Bumblebee, might have practised that same magic too.

I am pretty sure that some of you know very well that I have 2 dysfunctional terrapins that pretty much acknowledge each own's presence.

Once they start banging and standing at the corners of the tank (they have destroyed the first pump in this process), its a sign that they want to roam about the house.

We let them walk around, initially taking extremely careful measures, watching their every move, preventing them from going into corners that we might not be able to get them out of.

But as time goes by, we relaxed on our security, probably like Singapore's, letting them roam about on their own and explore the house at their own expense of being flipping over their shells after trying to climb on the wall's side ceramic tiles (they are absolutely ignorant of the fact that they don't have the lizard's limbs) and getting stuck at some dark corners, with no idea of how to get out of the situation themselves.

But Bumblebee, being the smaller one, was feeling adventurous one fine day.

It slipped out of the house's gate and was found crawling in front of the neighbour's house (which I believe Mas Selamat is already in Indonesia by now).

That incident pretty much forced us to keep a closer eye on especially Bumblebee, hence closing our door when it was up and about around the house.

Yesterday, due to a slight carelessness on our security measures, Bumblebee was nowhere to be found.

We were panicking, finger-pointing each other and after an hour's search, left devastated even before the whole devastating Liverpool's match.

I even knocked on the neighbour's door, asking whether anyone had seen a stray turtle, and my sister and brother went up and down the stairs, looking out for a possibly overturned traumatised turtle.

The night ended in conclusion that we had lost it, that someone had found it and either kept it or released it to the bigger home it might have always dreamed of, the reservoir.

Surprise surprise, in the morning, my dad found the quiet but still traumatised terrapin underneath the spot we all overlooked.

The prayer mats at the balcony.



It was probably telling us how much it wanted to pray.

So Sally's

Warning: The entry you are about to read is not for the imaginative-deficients. Please ensure you have tissue to wipe your salivating lips in case you are not aware of yourself drooling.

The popiah, being one of my favourite food, is one of the delicacies that I would eye for when I dine out.

Just to give a rough idea of how I rate the dish, I give Qiji's a 7.5/10. The thickness of the sauce absolutely puts it above Banquet's easily, of which I grade the latter a 6/10 or less.

The worst of Banquet's popiah that I have ever eaten is apparently at the Simei's outlet. It was not properly rolled, and in addition to that, the sauce was practically non-existent (I had requested for chilli, which probably fell on deaf ears). The vegetables were also too soggy and tasteless and those peanuts simply made the generally bad taste even worse. That was my 1/10 popiah.

But I would like to share the popiah I rate as at least an 8/10.

My mum's.

I am not being biased, but I am going to share a little bit on what separates hers from the others.

She makes the sambal chilli as her primary sauce, unlike the black sauce in most. Whilst some Malay versions have this same idea, what they can't beat is the rich and sweet taste.

I can assure you the turnip and carrot remain crunchy even after a few hours of being "rolled in" as they are fried, rather than boiled.

And she includes a generous supply of cut up prawns.

For the more health-conscious people, my mum uses fresh turnips and carrots and uses mayonaisse (this is definitely not so healthy already) and chilli sauce instead. Equally delicious.

Now, saying all these only would get me nowhere. Humans are, after all, visual creatures by nature.

Presenting the popiahs my mum and I painstakingly made (of course I could only roll it) for an NTU function.

This is actually the famous popiah of Changi Superhub 2. If any of your family members work there under SATS or SIA (or any other airlines there), they probably would have heard of or even tasted it.

People there do bug my mum at times, requesting for her to make them the popiah or nasi lemak (the other one she's also known for), which she conveniently ignores due to the lack of time she has on her hands.

But currently, we're going to start selling the popiah on a small scale. Just some occasional weekend orders only, because my mother is still a full-time working lady.

Any interested parties, please drop a comment on this blog or email me at glamgerl11@gmail.com. Thank you! :)