Sights of San Francisco

A short entry sharing some sights of San Francisco...

Had been travelling to all those ulu areas for a couple of months, this time round been located in the downtown of San Francisco (SF) is indeed a welcome change! The place is pack with visitors and for some unknown reasons, the hotel i was in was swarm with college students. It was really nice eye candies as those college folks has closer resemblance to what you see in the "OC" or perhaps "Smallville" rather than the usual "Upsize Me" folks.


Swarm of college students!

The room i got has a nice view too!


A pool right outside, where are the trunks when you need them!

As the hectic schedule only kick start tommorrow, i joined my working folks in a walk around the city in an attempt to fight off the jetlag.


The electric trams remains a popular way to get up those steep slopes of SF

There are really lots of shops and restaurants around...


This shop sells lots of old collectable stuff

This place known as Boudin Bakery is interesting. It is very popular for what is known as sourdough bread and it looks delicious as they make a soup bowl using it and serve it with clam chowder. In fact it seem like SF is well known for it. Did not manage to try it though.


Baskets of fresh dough transported around via the conveyor belt

This is interesting, first time see a cat been used to get donation.

It is quite a fat cat though....

It can be quite tough walking around the city as the upslopes can be really steep!


Steep sloooope!


The cars has to actually travel zig zag to come down from this particular slope

In the picture below, you can see the island of Alcatraz. It used to be a prison but has now been converted to a visitor attraction and was the actual screening location of the movie "The Rock" staring Nicholas Cage and Sean Connery.


The island of Alcatraz also known as the Rock

The hectic schedule will start tomorrow.
Timo and Mumu hope you guys are doing well for exams, really sorry to be away at this period of time. Good luck for your exams and see you guys soon!

Pitstop Cafe, sharing new sights...

Astroboy

I saw the lift!

Pitstop Cafe is located at Circular Road, which is the back area of boat quay. The whole stretch are mainly 2 or 3 storey shophouses which are pretty old aka conservative buildings. I thought a staircase is the only way to access the upper floors...

Hence i am pretty surprised to see one of the shophouse that actually has a lift despite the relatively small area.


A shophouse a few unit down from our cafe actually has a lift!

They must have voted for Joy...

Astroboy

Vote for Joy!

It always feels great to see regular faces at the cafe. The more you see them, the more you get to know them. It feels cosy to be able to walk up to a customer, address him or her by name and generally chat about their happenings.

Gwen and Joy are one of those folks that drops by pretty regulary at the cafe to study in the afternoon. Perhaps it is the generation gap which is why i find it interesting to find out about the activites they are up to.

For example, Joy is taking part in some speech competition and it was fun to chat with her and talk cock about the topics that will make good speech material, etc. Joy if you are reading this, one of these days you must do a live speech at the cafe ok!

Anyway Joy is currently running for a Counsellor position in her school, Innova Junior College. She will need to get people to vote for her, something similar like an election just that she is not giving out any progress packages or doing any upgradings. She has a very nice badge though that kinda of say "Vote for Joy!"


Very tall Gwen and shorter Joy...


This is Joy, always full of smiles!

I think she is a very sweet and cheerful girl and she will make a good counsellor. So if anyone of you from Innova Junior College or have any friends that are in there, do get them to give Joy a vote ok!

So will we have a lift up to the cafe?

astroboy

A Pink and White Affair

Last evening Pitstop Cafe was booked for a private birthday party for Yi Yan. The crew has been busy with all the preparation of the place for this event.


Pink and white balloons greets the guests as they step in the cafe..

It is a puffing time for the crew as they had to blew over 50 balloons and decorate the whole cafe for the event. In fact one table even broke while Timo was standing on it, trying to stick those sparkling stars on to the ceiling.


all was worth it, beautiful isn't it?

I think the decoration is really nicely done. The place was filled with lots of pretty pink and white "helium" balloons. People were like tugging at those ribbons but realise that they were stuck to the ceiling instead!


In darkness, but brighten up by the presence of all the friends around


Cutting the birthday cake by all the April babies

Are those born in April more mischevious since it is the month of April Fool? Anyway there were lots of food, drinks as well as ice cream for those who turn up for the party.


Catching up on some girls' talk...


with food, drinks and icecream!

For course apart from just having food, there are boardgames too.


These folks are having some serious negotitation in the game "i'm the boss"


Of course we have friendlier games like "A Dog's Life" which involve finding bones

It was a great and fun event and these folks definitely liven up the place with their smiles and laughter!


A great group of folks...most have been friends since primary school!

It has been another interesting experience for the crew of Pitstop Cafe. We did our first buffet event a month back. It is our first time doing something for a birthday celebration. Special thanks to Leon and his friends for choosing Pitstop Cafe as the venue for their private birthday party.


Clearing the place for another brand new day at Pitstop Cafe

Pitstop Cafe, we do birthday parties!

astroboy

A Pink and White Affair (to be continued...)

We had a great birthday party today at Pitstop Cafe. As usual, Pitstop Crew always try to make the event as special and memorable for those who hold events at our cafe. We are really happy to know the folks came and had a good time and enjoyable evening at Pitstop Cafe. More coverage of the event later...


Whats happening at Pitstop Cafe???

Anyway on the side note, we had a nice surprise. We got an encouraging write up on our blog at this site.

Excerpt from the blog entry

I wish I were as hip as these four nuts! Their posts crack me up and have made the Pitstop Cafe a "must visit" on my next trip to Singapore to become a "Pitstopper."


Personally i think the article was touching not because it shows that we have a great blog site or whatsoever, but rather because someone can feel and be part of growth of our cafe even though he is half a globe away!

Pitstop Cafe, 呼吸呼吸 (breathe out, breathe in, breathe out, breathe in)....

Astroboy

Book for the night...

Important Announcement!
Please note that this Tuesday, 18 April 2006, Pitstop Cafe has been booked for a special event in the evening and hence it will be unavailable. Sorry for the inconvenience.



To find out more of the event, do check back on the blog!

Pitstop Cafe, we do events too!

Is he the Jenga King?

Jenga has been a quite a popular game among the pitstoppers. I guess it is mainly because it is simple, fast and exciting. Hands are shivering as each of them carefully placed each piece of the wooden blocks while shrieks can be heard from both guys and gers when the whole tower tumbles down.

Anyway we manage to take a snapshot of this particular guy who is playing Jenga...


Seem like just one of the many folks who play Jenga...

But don't be fool, we suspect that he is the Jenga King because he seem to be the center of attention among his group....


Everyone is trying to take a shot of him...

Every move he made is was follow by a furry of snaps and flashes...


His every move recorded in camera, handphone, pdas...


and he seems to be enjoying all the attention!

So do you have steady hands and steel nerve? Drop by to Pitstop Cafe and see how high you can go in a game of Jenga. I believe currently we seen up to 32 block height so far...

hmmm how high have you ever stack up in a game of Jenga?

Astroboy

AstroMum, Yo ah Yo...

AstroMum must be in a really good mood after beating all of us in 2 rounds of Yahtzee! Despite her blurness and inability to totally comprehend the strategy of the game, we totally lose out to her luck.

For both games she manage to get Yahtzee. Yahtzee is means having 5 of the same number on all 5 dices and you are only given 3 rolls to get it. In short it is really difficult to get it and when you get it, you sure feel high!

Uncle Simon, Auntie Emily and Auntie Lilian drop by the cafe and had a game with her too but all got burnt by her sheer luck as well.

Auntie Emily commented "Not nice to play lar, your mum must be at the cafe whole day yo and yo the dice is it?!!"

AstroMum, really gao yo...

Astroboy

Pay for Water?

In response to a recent newspaper article about how customers were pissed bout' restaurants and cafes not servin tap water.


I heard some places is going at 12 bucks per bottle...

we had similar experiences at a coffee club in Orchard. They stopped serving plain water, I guess cuz' folks have been hoggin' to their seats and just drinking plain water the whole damn day.

It's just like those folks who spent eons reading books and magazines at borders and not buying them

or even folks who tested the cds at HMV and buy it at their neighbourhood CD shop.

Now, whatever it is.

No matter how smart you are,

or crafty or cheapo

the bottom line is this:

Pitstop cafe has found the perfect way to solve all this unhappiness and conflicts.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
We still serve plain water...
*clap clap clap*

with ice...
*ooohhh*

with a tinge of lemon for a refreshing feel...
*waaahhhh*

in a nice blue glass.
*encore encore*

Pitstop cafe, We serve you plain water.

timo

Who exactly is Mum?

Folks that drop by at Pitstop Cafe know that we have this item "Mum's Special" and most of the time they would ask what is Mum's special for the day. On certain days we do have it, while other days the response could be mum's not around or mum's out for mahjong session, or simply mum's not in the mood...

Is mum is real person or just a fictional character? Or is Mum's special just a gimmick to make the food sound good? Well the answer is Mum's special is really homemade cooking by mum, who happens to be astroboy's mother or perhaps we can term her as AstroMum.

Guess who is AstroMum?


AstroMum and her sister AstroAunt
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
AstroMum can be really FIERCE at times...


When comes to cooking, you won't want to mess with AstroMum

Anyway AstroMum enjoys cooking and is always experimenting with different stuff. She make pretty decent sushi as well but i guess her forte still lies in spicy stuff since she made and grind most of her secret chilli paste herself.


AstroMum's yummy curry

But of course when there is a mahjong session, cooking had to take a second place and that kinda of explain the inavailability of mum's special on Saturday. Anyway with the long weekend coming up, i been perstering my mum to cook something nice. Although she is pretty piss off with me about this, she is nice to agree on the sake of the cafe to prepare some delicious yam cakes for this week.

Upcoming Mum's Special...

For those who like yam, you really got to try this. Cos it really different from most yam cake outside. AstroMum really take the effort to make great yam cakes. All the cutting, mixing,etc is quite a bit of work. She always mix the yam cakes with a generous amount of mushrooms and dried shrimps. Added with her own concoction of chilli sauce, it is really good stuff. So check it out at Pitstop Cafe over this long weekend.

Thanks mum aka AstroMum!

On a side note, eve always say that i should not let people know that i am her hubby and scare away all her "secret admirers", but then when there are group of nice girls in the cafe, mum is introduce as her mother-in-law.....

astroboy

Pitstop Crew goes Chomp Chomp

After a rewarding Sunday of entertaining folks and pleasing fellow Pitstoppers,

We decided to reward ourself with a sumptious late night dinner at Chomp Chomp..

So much for selling western food, I guess culture is still a very important factor to consider in a business..

SINGAPOREAN STILL PREFERS HAWKER CENTRES AND KOPITIAM


oooh....so orgasmic

There was this particular store which sells the Adam road prawn mee. We decided to order the crab soup at $12/-, the eggs of the crab coupled with the aromatic and tantalising herbal soup was really gratifying.

Oh, another thing. Despite being herbal and all, the uncle was still kind enough to refill our bowl of herbal soup again and again... some place ask them for a cup of water also make so much noise.. we must learn from uncle.

I guess, the rest is silence as a few pictures paint a thousand words:


Pitstop crew is really deprived of 'normal' life


The hawkers thought we were from Makansutra.. more like 'Sua Ku' (mountain tortoise) everything also must take picture..

We were so stoned after the meal, can't move. didn't know if it was the free flow herbal soup or the humongous sugar cane drink or was it the crab eggs...

However, what that didn't made the meal complete was..

YOU.

Yes, do join us when we have similar outing next time!!!

Remember,

Pitstop Cafe, really a different thang

Nostalgia

if you are at Pitstop cafe, you would have spotted a black bounded book titles 'Life before Pitstop Cafe'.

Egocentric it may seem, but the book really captures the youth, the playfulness, the non-chalance, the care free days of the four of us.

Looking at the book again merely reminded us the sacrifice that we have made, commitments that we have to forgo and the lifestyles we have to adapt to.


out in the sea, sun tanning and fishing


Enjoying a simple meal together


Massage by the beach...

What we have done so far is to transfer those energy to our cafe, we hope that despite stiff competition, the unforgiving society, the dog eat dog world, Pitstop Cafe can remain because of the passion of four young folks

and most importantly,

the many folks who have keeped the faith and have supported in one way or another.

So people who are reading this. Be it out of curiousity, coincidence or chance. Don't just read, do make your physical presence with us at Pitstop cafe and you will realise that

your experience with us is really unmatchable as it is one which..

comes straight from the heart.

timo

师傅，别念了!

Warning, a long whinning entry...

As some of you might know, eve and i was supposed to "officially" get married this year. To startup Pitstop Cafe, we delayed to early next year instead. Time flies past and till now i have not really got the time to plan for it. Mum has been nagging. I now understand the pain of Sun Wukong...

"师傅，别念了，徒儿知错了..."

Hence i put my act together and try to pick a venue for our wedding dinner. By the way we are planning for 20th Jan 2007, more than 9 months away. To my disgusted horror, most places are not available anymore. I am starting to get cold sweat, eve sure gonna be piss.

The more places i check, the more jialat it seem. Its as if everyone is getting married. Some of the available places are charging an arm and a leg for their packages, $900 plus per table! Even my progress package can't get me a wedding table. Some even hit 4 digits! I will really need more of this and this!

I tried a few more alternatives and then i thought, why must dinner leh? Cannot lunch meh? Lunch will be great too mah. People do not have to rush back (ever been to wedding dinners with guests started leaving by the 6th course of the dinner?) and perhaps we get to mingle abit with the guests. It will be a sit down lunch and we could have the tea ceremony in the hotel. Relatives can come for the ceremony and proceed to lunch. We could have a nice chocolate fountain fondue so that even after lunch, people could stay around and interact. The hotel i found was Grand Copthorne Waterfront, a rather nice place. At night still can go cheong! Everything seem cool i thought....

When i suggested to eve, she still pretty ok about it. The concerns are will we ended up in another debt as people think lunch is cheap and maybe just give tissue paper for their angbao even though the truth is that lunch and dinner are similar in prices.

When i told Mum and Dad, they aren't exactly please with my suggestion. There are concern that people would not turn up, no atmosphere at home since tea ceremony is in the hotel, no MRT near hotel, lunch not presentable, blah blah, 别念了...

Even Timo had advise me to follow the social construct and feel that lunch does not have the mood. Just follow SOP he said. Friends and relatives i spoke with seem skeptical too..."Har, why lunch?" was the common response.

I am now confused as well. Venue for dinner options is really limited and to me seem so typical and boring. Do lunch, likely i will ended up paying alot more because people will think its cheapo. Furthermore lunch is not the conventional and it is my first time doing it, i am not confident if it will turn out as well...

Sigh, what a tough decision! Really got to make a decision soon, else in the end cannot get lunch or dinner, my head definitely going to be on the chopping board! Do i really need to follow the convention???

Astroboy

Dummy guide from City Hall (Scholar edition)

I was pleased to find out that retarded as it seems, some folks actually find the dummy guides to pitstop cafe interesting, informative and amusing..

Lo and behold, this time round it will be a more educational/scholarly version..

Anyway folks, be it you come from SMU or city hall, follow this.. you wouldn't go wrong. It is a nice scenic route and just a short walk away...

Upon exiting City hall towards the Funan side, you should be able to see this entrance..

once again, my greatest apologies for not doing it the classic dummy way.



St Andrew’s Cathedral,which is on the left is a distinctive and elegant institution in the heart of the civic district. Designed by Colonel Ronald MacPherson in 1856, it replaced the original church which was destroyed by two lightning strikes in 1852.

Just walk straight down the path and..



on your right you should see Funan centre..with seven levels of shops carrying merchandise so varied and diverse, will definitely make even the most discerning shopper come back for more. Because this is where they can find three levels of information technology and computer; and another devoted to fashionwear and the most advanced audio - visual equipment.



Walk on and you will see a bridge and slight upfront will be the Parliment house.



if yer tired can just hop on the trishaw for just 2 bucks a trip... if not, this is kinda like an unofficial taxi stand as well..


To your left, you'll see Boat Quay..ahh..though we are located at circular road, which is just right behind, but nonetheless, the distinctive characteristic of this waterfront establishment is one of the major plus point of where Pitstop cafe is located.

Below is an abstract from Singapore Tourism Board:

'If the mouth of the Singapore River is considered the birthplace of modern Singapore, then Boat Quay is the mother of the Singapore entertainment scene. In the late 1980s to early 1990s, it gave class to riverside dining when good taste once meant being ensconced in a hotel grillroom or grand Chinese restaurant.

The restored shophouses now host a motley mix of restaurants offering Chinese, Indian, Indonesian, Thai, Italian and other international cuisine. There are also cafes, pubs, bars and karaoke lounges.

Boat Quay is the after-work watering hole for professionals and expatriates from the adjoining Raffles Place financial district. As the evening wears on, the dinner crowd takes over and finally, the younger set of clubbers party into the wee hours, especially at weekends.

For centuries, rice barges (tongkang) plied the waterways; today, bumboats serve as water taxis, ferrying passengers up and down river.'

(http://www.singaporecanlah.com/singapore_today/boat_quay/last surfed on 7 April 2006)

walking on further will be what is unofficially termed as the 'air con alley'



this is a very unique local lanscape.. what used to be shophouses and warehouses evolved to adapt to the modern uses. Adaptive Reuse, according to Urban Redevelopment Board (URA)b allows all conservative shophouses to suit to modern uses. However, the facade must still remain the same and architecture alterations must be applied and vetted. That's why you see all the aircons and air vents hidden behind



Now this is Circular road... we are almost there..just look out for 14B..



And here you are..Pitstop Cafe

Really, in the first degree

Though it was kinda dissapointing that not many pitstoppers joined us, we carried on with our plan to club anyway....


Evelyn revealed her femininity, it made Astroboy 'rise'


Mumu is geared up as well, timo is still at the balcony lookin' at girls

The girls as usual revealed their bimbotism, raged into a frenzy of make up, cosmetics and what have you.. Astroboy couldn't care less while timo...


is perfecting his wu jian dao (infernal affairs) pose

Now, surprisingly two folks decided to join us as well... they managed to convince Astroboy to go Phuture instead of mambo.. which pleases timo very much....


They happened to be timo's ex students...

Now, all of us were set to go....


We behaved as if we've never club before..like some excursion..

Wonder where most of the pics went? well, Eve in her state of 'highness' deleted all the juicy pics...argh...

We had fun watching the 'hand signs' performmance..

There was this particular 'ba gei' (bucked tooth) guy who was very amusing, mambo regulars should know him..

We went Phuture later...timo is damn exhilarated, he is a damn ghetto freak... timo is a friggin nigger..


well, we went for supper....

Yeah, this place near Zion road. Weren't impressed by their food at all! they served nissin noodles!!! That's the problem going out with F&B freaks, we just like to analyse and compare with our cafe food...totally lose the joy of being a consumer..


abit high, snapping photos of herself

Eve is still snapping pictures of herself...

Legend has it that Astroboy saw Eve talking non-stop at night and saying many irrelevant things..

Timo replied, " hasn't she been always doing that?"

Pitstop cafe, where the fun never ends......