Short, sweet and wanting more

at the Ascott Raffles Place but as i had indicated in my Tweets, the “wotever happens” happened and it had nothing to do with the prize which lived up to all I had been expecting.

But I’m getting ahead of my story.

On Oct 30, the check-in was smooth, low-key and friendly. The receptionist and a bell boy showed us up to Suite 1807 assigned as the 3-day 2-night prize-stay I had won in the Twitter re-tweet contest in September 2009.

Apart from the missing long bath, the one-bedroom apartment at the Ascott Raffles Place turned out to be exactly as the  video link provided at http://www.the-ascott.com.sg/ASRP/  depicts. Still, that’s no loss as I think long baths are both dangerous and dirty.

Indeed Suite 1807 came with real bonuses. Besides complimentary Internet services (otherwise that would have cost $10 per hour), the suite had a large open deck or balcony opening from the bedroom.

As we were on the 18th floor (just one floor below the gym, swimming pool and guest lounge facilities), we had a bird’s eye view of what’s coming up in Collyer Quay.

Friends and family members who visited excitedly discussed the demise of the Neptune Theatre and what was coming up in its place while one recent alumnus from Societe Generale reminised about her old office at ORQ (One, Raffles Quay) whose twin towers acted like sunshades for my suite.

So why didn’t we spend even one night there? Why didn’t we max out the fully equipped kitchen- despite bringing masses of rice, we didn’t use the rice cooker –altho I’m not sure it was there, as there was no time to inspect the apartment fully; we didn’t even finish all the beer we brought and certainly didn’t try each of the multiple brands of 3-in-1 coffee that we packed. Even the snacks and nibbles were barely touched but the single bottle of Sauvignon Blanc did find takers quickly, because at 750ml, it wasn’t much to go round.

The reason we left boiled down to one simple fact: my mum. At her age, her ability to adjust has been reduced to almost zero. Her attention span is much diminished. Although she was as excited as me and her maid about the prospect staying at the Ascott, she wanted to go home almost as soon as we checked in.

It’s what I call the “I’ve seen it, now let’s go home” syndrome.

Her poor maid Siti, who was lapping up the luxury of the Ascott, tried her best to cajole Popo to stay, at least for one night. She wanted to sleep in a five-star hotel just once, even if others like mum has become immune to luxury and wanted only her own bed.

So she tried to distract mum with sweet talk while I dashed out for some food to create further distraction.  Mum is the epitome of the old Chinese saying that when you are old, you care more about your stomach than your looks. Lau Pa Sat thankfully was just a hop, skip and jump away from the Ascott.

The food choices at Lau Pa Sat were mind boggling and gentle on the pocket. I wasn’t adventurous as I simply didn’t have time to browse. So I settled for three packs of dinner from the Mixed Rice stall and two large popiah rolls, all of which set me back for less than $11.

Back at the Ascott, two old friends rolled by after work bearing more food: a whole box of Korean grapes from ST and a large box of petite cakes from Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf from KY n ST.

Because everyone was hungry, dinner, washed down by a spot of plonk, cakes and chatter didn’t take us to much beyond 8pm when mum began the refrain again. “I know this is a home away from home but that’s for people who don’t live in Singapore.”

I can’t fault that logic and in the end decided to throw in the towel on just one condition: be4 we leave, let me try the shower, the great smelling shower gel from L’ Occitane and of cos the feel of the soft thick bath towel against my skin.

Thereafter, it was a whirlwind of cleaning up the apartment (didn’t want to leave a mess in case we didn’t come back the next day), repacking and frantic texting to other guests who were scheduled to drop by for a Friday night chill out after shows, late work or apres dinner. “Dn’t cme. M insists on going hme.”

It may sound like a comedy of errors but believe it or not, we were back at the Ascott by noon the following day after mum was convinced by my sister Daffy and her family to have lunch there — with food bought from nonya eatery, Ivin’s.

It was a good meal and the surroundings made it better but for those intending to use the Ascott apartments for a gathering, then learn from our experience: remember to bring extra crockery, cutlery and glasses as each one-bedroom residence caters strictly to only two occupants.

For us, we simply made do, as though we were on a picnic, with some drinking from glasses, others from cups; some eating with spoons; others with forks; using plates and bowls indiscriminately, so long as there was enough to go round.

Consolation: we ate from real china and drank from decent glasses, even if not using the correct stuff for the food and beverages; no plastic for us.

Once the meal was over, distraction time ended and mum wanted to go home again, much to the disappointment of her maid who really enjoys luxury!

This time, I stayed back. As my sister n family cld take them home and also, as other friends and relatives I had asked to come over for a “look see” were on their way and it would be too ridiculous if I were to text them with the same message: ”Dn’t cme. M insists on going hme.”

Four more sets of visitors dropped by, bearing food and good company. In particular, I must mention Juliana who — despite the rain, the thunder and that there was no parking facilities at the Ascott which meant she had to brave the elements in a nearby carpark –still managed to bring enough nasi lemak and otak from the Mackeral Otak people to last us not only for dinner that night but also for dinner at home the following nite.

And of course the inclement weather starting on Oct 30 evening was what put a pall on what would otherwise have been an A+ week-end stay, even with mum’s vacillating desire to go home to her own bed. (She did try the gi-normous bed in the Ascott bedroom but it was too high and hard from what she’s used to, which isn’t a criticism of what the serviced residence provided. Au contraire!)

Hence after the last set of visitors on my 2nd nite, with the sky still weeping intermittantly, I decided to call it quits and went home with my brother, his wife and an aunt. And not forgetting some freebies that I didn’t get to use, such as two tooth brushes and two small bottles of L’Occitane shampoo.

In retrospect, it might have been better if I had opted for an Ascott apartment in Kuala Lumpur. Being so far away might have deterred mum from being at her unreasonable — yet logical — best about wanting to go home.

Ascott Raffles Place here we come!

This time last week, I was all pumped up about “consuming” the prize I won in a Twitter contest by re-tweeting contest announcements by Ascott International.

To recap, I won a 3-day 2 nite stay at any of the Ascott Group’s residences in the Asia Pacific.

There were many to choose from, as the prize covered not only those under the Ascott brand but also those under its Somerset and Citadine brands.

For me, I first looked for the country: China was my preference in particular Ascott Raffles City in Beijing which had newly opened.

I’ve a thing about new places. I love them to bits.

But practicality kicked in as I wanted to share the price with my mother and her maid. Given my mother’s rather fragile health, it had to be something near home.

I toyed with the idea of Ascott Kuala Lumpur or Somerset in Bukit Ceylon, as I’ve a friend with a comfy car who makes fortnightly visits to KL. We could hitch a ride from her and then in KL we would be well taken care of by other old friends who all have four wheels, plenty of time and a great inclination to be generous hosts.

In the end, however, sensibility decided that it’s best to stay put in Singapore and sample Ascott Singapore Raffles Place, for the convenience of my mum and to share my win with more people, such as other family members and friends.

And of course there were bragging brownies in the fact that the owners of Ascott Raffles Place had just been conferred the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s Architectural Heritage Award for carefully preserving the unique features of Asia Insurance Building – once, gasp, Singapore’s tallest building and a 1950s heritage icon — while transforming it into its flagship premier serviced residence!

I like basking in others’ reflected glory! I’m that shallow!

So there we were last Thursday night, madly packing all sorts of stuff to take with us to Ascott the next day, to make the temporary residence more like home.

So much so that my mother’s maid said tartly: “Ma’am, we are taking so many things with us, we might as well stay home..”

Beware what comes out of the mouths of maids, as I’ll reveal in the next post.

Breakfast at Blu dinner

Things weren’t that topsy turvey at Shangrila Hotel’s Blu Challenge dinner on Oct 10 as implied by the title of this post.

It’s just that chef Kevin Cherkas named the dessert Breakfast (pix below) even though what he served wasn’t a poached egg sitting on a muffin, with the usual accompanying fried sausages and grilled tomato. Rather, sausages and tomato were optical illusions — just a picture on the plate.

I think the “egg white” was coconut cream and perhaps real cream from the cow while the “yolk” was some mango puree and juice with gelatine. I also think the “muffin” was laced with passion fruit extract of some sort.

Please note I use the word “think” deliberately because I was, and still  am, not sure what went into making up the dessert. The “ingredients” I had gleaned from what the waiter told us would be in the dessert when he was kindly re-organising my menu to avoid serving me beef, lamb, duck and goose.

“You can eat passion fruit, coconut and mango?” he asked, apparently throwing caution to the wind: my five dining companions would be taking the challenge to guess the menu’s ingredients, even tho I wasn’t, and they could hear every word. (or perhaps that’s Blu’s way of dropping hints?)

Pity the wait didn’t also ask whether I could eat cream made from milk, as I’m somewhat lactose intolerant and had a mild tummy upset the morning after the dinner, leaving me suspecting all the more strongly that the “egg white” had at least some cream in it!

Not quite what it seems

The dinner started with something which looked like a mushroom cap (left) but wasn’t. It’s amusing to look at and quite pleasant to taste but it won’t be something I would die-die must eat again.

This was followed by something I’m more familiar with. A generous portion of lobster meat, lightly cooked in a delicious stock (see below). I was less comfy with the foamy clump at one end of the plate and it stayed right there.

 

lobster portion: generous n colorful

Guess I’m not for the sort of cooking a la Fat Duck, molecular cooking, whatever, altho for a once in a blue-moon meal, it’s OK.

Otherwise, give me something simple, clean and natural like Sakura don (at between $7.80 and $9.90 takeaway), and I would be in gourmet (my version) paradise.

The lobster was followed by a soup, which I think looked very pretty as well (below left) but its taste wasn’t particularly memorable. Again, there was the ubiqitous blob of cream!  This brought an end to the “common” items which I was served, just like the others taking the Challenge menu.

 

so pretty!

solid monkfish followed by risotto consolation

 While those in the Challenge ate pan-fried foie gras (very generous pieces, cut heart-shaped and pronounced great by those eating it) I was served monk fish. With plenty of foam again, just as again I couldn’t fault the dish for its prettiness but wish ang mo cooks would learn to serve meaty fish in thin slices rather than like a thick rump steak!

What followed was the main-main course. The competitors were served tenderloin beef cut in medallions which all pronounced great. Unfortunately, I overlooked taking pix of dishes not on my menu.

For me, mains was cod in an emerald sea of pea or spinach puree– I couldn’t make out exactly. But it was avery decent portion, made more so when the restaurant threw in a small but still decent portion of risotto, although I hadn’t expected that. Blu at least made the dinner worth the $139+++, tho I won’t say the same for the Evian we were served, even tho we asked for PUB water.

codfish in a sea of green

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As stated in the earlier post, no one won the Challenge, so we had to pay for our dinner in full, plus all the other incidentals.

However, there was a sweet ending and I don’t mean just the “cotton wool” candy tree which came with compliments of the chef. Rather, it was the 15% we were given off our total bill because TK paid with American Express, though the waiter added, we would get the same discount with an UOB card.

Instead of us having to pay $234 per head for an evening’s indulgence, we found we needed to pay just $198 each. Well that’s why we left Blu in high spirits even tho we didn’t drink ourselves silly and almost choked over the price of Evian!

While the experience at Blu was nowhere near the WOW I felt on our first visit to GOTO, it’s certainly more value for money than Gunther’s.

And of cos at Blu, we spotted a celebrity couple, Dr Susan Lim, Singapore’s first surgeon to carry out a liver transplant. With her equally famous Citibanker husband. Just like we spotted UOB president Wee Ee Cheong at Gunther’s and City Developments chairman, Kwek Leng Beng, at our repeat visit to GOTO! 

Challenging dinner at Blu – for starters

My usual dining companions and I went to Blu on the 24th floor of the Shangri La Hotel to try their $139 +++ Challenge dinner on Saturday, Oct 10. If the diner got all the ingredients right from the tasting menu of six courses in a multiple choice quiz, he/she got to dine free.

 The date wasn’t chosen because of any auspicious connotations but because that’s the Saturday when everyone of the regular group was free and more importantly, for four of the much travelling members, everyone was in town.

I must say rightaway that the six courses we had (seven if we included the cotton candy tree at the end of the meal which came with the chef’s compliments; and eight for me, as I had a different menu from the others; explanations in the post after next) were well worth the money, in taste and presentation.

The service was also on the better side of good.

But let me also register some negative points, as starters.

Although we booked for a table for six some 10 days or so be4 the actual dinner, we were informed only late in the afternoon of 10/10 that Blu cldn’t give us a table at the window. The person who called said they just wanted to be “upfront” with us.

Hello, with such short notice, what else could we say but with gritting teeth that we would accept, adding “how so we don’t get a table at the window when we booked long ago?”

“Because we don’t have a table for six at the window. The space doesn’t allow it; it will be too tight; uncomfortable…”

Now, I wonder why we weren’t told all this right at the time we booked? It probably won’t have made any difference but the fact that we were left with Hobson’s choice at the last moment didn’t feel good.

The next piece of “displeasure” was when we were dallying at the cocktail lounge, enjoying the night lights and pre-dinner drinks. All of us had arrived be4 7.30pm (that’s the time we booked) and it might have been a bit after that, but we were chased –not once but twice to get to our table– as the restaurant was quite full and we were having the Challenge menu. Something to do with the fact that the chef had to cook in batches, whatever.

All of us are reasonable pple, so after a couple of under-breath mutterings, we went kwai-kwai to our table. Although we would have preferred to linger a little longer over our drinks.

The next frown-making incident was when we asked for water — PUB water, as one of us put it– we were served Evian. This was despite the fact that one of us pointed out again to the waiter, as he poured, that we wanted plain tap water. But too late to reject, as some of us had begun sipping the water in our glasses. In any case, the waiter made no response.

Later, when we were settling the bill, we checked whether we were charged for the Evian. Indeed we were. $38 for 330ml!! Something that Sparklette who has compiled a list of restaurants that don’t serve water might like to take note of!

But because we generally had a good evening — even after TK was given a sticky dirty fork that he had to ask for it to be changed — we were loath to kick up a fuss and end the gathering on a sour note.

Yes, even after we discovered that the martinis with canned lichi that five of us had cost $120 (before SV + GST). It’s Shangri La after all.

 And the curious thing about the prices was that we had a very decent bottle of Argentinian Shiraz that cost just $120 +++!

Finally, the most curious thing was that the five who took the Challenge (I didn’t because I had a slightly different menu), the person who didn’t cook scored 79 points — the highest at Blu for that night according to Chef Kevin Cherkas — while the person who cooked for us regularly scored only 50 points.

For the Blu record: the chef said no one had had scored 100% and won the complimentary dinner as of the date of our dining. The Challenge is on till Dec 31!

Modern Johnnie Walker

In late June, I wrote a short account of people I know who tho past their “use-by” employable dates but somehow still have employers either desperate or discerning enough to want to keep them on the company’s payroll. Here’s the post.

PT, a friend, was so inspired by that post that she has written an account of her own to share. It is about her very dear friend, Eric Simon, who tho 74, continues to hold full-time employment besides having paying hobbies, thru writing books and giving talks.

Without more ado, I hand the mike over to PT for the rest of the story on how despite reaching the wrong side of adulthood, one man can still put good food on the table, rising prices notwithstanding:

Eric Simon, at aged 74, has neighbours shaking their heads asking him why  he must continue to slave away, putting in 7.30am-5pm routines 5 days a week – and sometimes even till 6 or 7 when the pressure is on – at a place that’s 30 mins drive from home.

They say ‘Why sweat so much when it is about time you take it easy, enjoy your hobbies, and come makan with us retirees?’ But Eric would have no truck with that.

 A graduate of Serdang Agricultural University, Eric has been a horticultural consultant with a property developer in KL for the last 15 years, and this was after he took early retirement at aged 50, together with full pension, etc, as a government servant. (between the age of 50 and 58, he was employed by yet another condo developer).

 Eric says, part of the reason why he enjoys his work is because it is less cerebral and more physical than most professions – i.e. going out to the hot sun to supervise landscape contractors and Bangladeshi gardeners on the one hand and co-ordinating with specialist builders, engineers and project managers on the other.

eric + orchids=inseparable

His ability to speak reasonably fluent Bangladeshi and Tamil, plus really excellent Bahasa Melayu, and plus a smattering of hokkien and cantonese, makes him popular with nearly everyone including all the staff – so much so that he is also appointed president of the staff recreation club.

 Although Eric has a room in an office (as well as a site office which he shares with site engineers) he doesn’t have the use of a PC, instead sharing one with the secretaries. Once he asked the office girls how to manipulate certain keys on a PC,  and got a retort from one of the young naïve ladies: ‘Ai yah, uncle, you are so old already, why must you learn the computer?!’ That fired him up even more and now he is the proud owner of not just a PC but the latest Apple iMac at home, busily checking the web, firing off emails to all his friends around the world, preparing work schedules, etc. Not to mention enrolling on an (free) iMac course one night a week.

 And speaking of Bahasa Melayu, his is so good that his Chinese friends – usually owners of garden nurseries in Subang -  regularly seek his help to interpret and draft government letters on his days off.

 But Eric’s all-consuming past-time is gardening. Besides sitting on several social committees including gardening and orchid societies, Eric has also published two how-to books on his twin passions –  bougainvillea and orchids.

 Chockful of information for the novice gardener, the books have a friendly laid-back Malaysian style, and also contain chapters for those who just want to enjoy the beauty of flowers without the back-breaking work! Much of the sale of these books are done by the author himself, through word of mouth, or at horticultural and orchid shows. A good number are also snapped up at talks Eric gives to government officials, schools, retirees, gardening/orchid socieites and other special interest groups.

Right now, Eric is working on his third book – on garden tips. His motto in life? ‘He who plants a garden plants happiness.’

So, who says life must slow down when you’ve reached your golden years?” 

(Eric’s website can be accessed via the navigation bar on the right.) 

Ion snapshots

Since all of Singapore and more have been thronging Ion Orchard, I, too, made a bee-line there a week ago. Fact is I like shopping malls, especially up-market ones because of their reasonably decent toilet facilities, for a start.

No, I’m not like Neil Humphries’ mum who passes more water than an elephant. I’m more like Lady Macbeth; need to wash my hands ever so often, and so find that malls with ubiquitous washrooms a plus point.

I parked my car at Shaw Centre, as I’ve passed the traffic snarls around Ion almost daily for several days and so know even without media reports that it would be a driver’s nightmare to try and park in there.

The underground link from Shaw Centre via Wheelock Place was a piece of cake. When i was leaving Ion, I found that I had exited just a few steps away from the linkway to Wisma Atria. And later, I found that Tangs was also linked to Ion.

My, such intercnnectedness has brought Singapore several  large strides closer to Hongkong where one can move seamlessly thru several shopping malls and major complexes; quite unlike most of Singapore.

It’s a wonderful development and comes almost two decades after such interconnectedness landed here with the Suntec/Marina Square/Ritz Carlton maze. And to a certain extent when Vivocity and the Harbour Front was refurbished to have interconnectedness too.

Anyway, if nothing else, Ion provides another great place to exercise one’s limbs, for those who want to take walks but like the comfort of aircon, decent rest pits and other comforts.

For me, Ion means just that, a good place for a leisurely stroll to while away an afternoon, or two or three – because as a food destination there isn’t anything that screams ”eat me”. As for the food court, somewhat pretentiously named Food Opera, the fodder is expensive for what’s dished up. That’s one thing I agree absolutely with the Sunday Times’ verdict published on Aug 16.

I grabbed the nearest bowl of noodles, which turned out to be fish ball noodles. It cost $5. The seven fishballs were of decent size but considering that FBs are sold at 70 cents each at the yong tau foo stall nearby, the handful of noodles cost $1.50!

When I think of the bowls of similar fishball noodles I used to buy in my childhood for 20 cents from an itinerant hawker called Yeow Kee, I could have wept. But i didn’t: the chair I was sitting on and the table I was eating from cost a sight more than my old furniture at home — even when they were brand new.

This info came courtesy of a managerial looking man, showing off Opera to a group of youngish people, MSM journalists or Internet bloggers — I won’t know. (I was merely eavesdropping and couldn’t pose questions!)

Really it’s hard to get excited about a foodcourt in the best of times and while the info that the chairs cost more than $200 each and the tables more than $400 each suggest Opera isn’t your neighbourhood hawker centre, the numbers don’t make it to be Dempsey Road either!

While the foodcourt was just an accidental pit stop, my visit to the supermarket on Ion’s 4th level wasn’t. After reading so much about the ThreeSixty supermarket, I made a beeline for it after I finished the ex-noodles. What I found and what this blogger found appeared to be two different places.

Perhaps I had in mind something like the City Supers from Hongkong and so was sorely disappointed. There was little that tempted me to buy and I certainly wasn’t going to shell out several red notes for honey, vinegar and such like.

What I did find after spending ages browsing was a bag of steel-cut oats, read about this food but never clapped eyes on it, so gleefully grabbed it as a momento of my visit — and at just $6 it didn’t burn too large a hole in my Kipling wallet.

I’m an ungracious recipient?

I was forced to consider this possibility last Friday when J who presented me with something from a project she’s involved in appeared to take offence when I asked, without opening what she handed me, if I could return it, if I didn’t like it.

“U don’t have to pay,” she replied, somewhat miffed. “It’s a gift.”

“I know it’s a gift but I don’t want anything decorative…”

“It’s not decorative. U can use it. It’s a mug.” 

“Oh a mug!.” I replied, relieved. “Of cos i can use it. I thought u said it’s a plaque!”

Then I went to explain — perhaps even belabouring the point – that I preferred gifts which i could use, eat or drink, not something that’s left on the shelf and need to be dusted and cleaned every so often.

I don’t think she was convinced and neither was C who recently brought me two sets and necklaces and earrings + a bracelet fm BKK, p’raps out of gratitude for my not pestering her for another load of Naraya purselets.

Alas, bearing in mind MK’s comment that she didn’t see why anyone needed more than one pair of earrings or handbag at any one time (I concede on earrings but not on handbags), i accepted only one of the three gifts: the design of the necklace and earrings resonated more with me than the other two gifts.

gift horse?

Not sure whether she was pleased or displeased that I didn’t accept everything but seeing it was in front of her staff, on reflection I think I should have been more gracious.

Perhaps should have accepted everything and then later pass what I didn’t need to other frens — as LW suggested, when I recounted the story to her n MK.

The trouble with such a solution is that I would feel more obligated than I already am to C. Also, if I’m to give away C’s gifts to others, I might as well let her enjoy that privilege.

Which brings me to another “no” I gave to a replica of the Palms in Dubai, a post-Dubai present brought back by a friend who went on a Singapore delegation to the Middle East earlier this year.

But the thick-skinned me did ask if I could have some of the chocolate covered dates I had enjoyed and was duly rewarded with a packet. My excuse is that I like to be honest, upfront etc..

But some people might not like such honesty. That’s why gift shops continue to thrive even tho I won’t have most, probably all of the things they carry — yes, even if they were given to me!

It’s sheer hypocrisy

Mama, what do you call it when a corporate preaches and practises one thing and then right under the noses of  its customers does something that as good as cancels out what it preached and practised?

Sheer hypocrisy, mama would reply, I’m sure.

Because of environmental concern, most if not all big supermarket chains in Singapore are imposing a no-free plastic bag policy one day a week.

I hate this policy because I think it’s absurd to think we are saving the environment, if not the earth (what hubris!), if we pack our wet, dirty, clean and whatever shopping from the supermarket into re-useable bags.

With plastic bags, I can at least segregate the wet meat and veggies from dry stuff like packets of milk, oats, coffee, bread etc. I can also re-use the plastic bags; the badly affected ones for wet trash and the cleaner ones as bin liners, repacking stuff to give away etc..

But with the re-useable bags that proclaim themselves as “I’m not plastic” etc, I would have to wash and dry them after every trip to the supermart. So water and detergent wld be used. No damage to the environment meh? OK, I cld be less fastidious and re-use and re-use the bags, without washing, till they are so yucky that they have to be thrown away. 

Frankly, has anyone worked out how much it costs the evironment to make these re-useable bags vs that of making disposable plastic? And even more frankly, who does it benefit immediately other than those pple who make and sell “I’m not a plastic” bags and the supermarkets which need to give away fewer plastic bags!

Which brings me up to the sheer hypocrisy of it all –when I came across a stack of plastic bottles of water for sale just be4 National Day, reduced from $10.20 to $5.85, for 12 bottles of 1.5 litres each! (see pix)

Hasn’t it been said time and time again that Singapore’s water is so good that it could be drunk straight from the taps? 

This aside, someone somewhere would surely realise that hawking cheap plastic bottled water is sooooooooooooo contradictory to the no-plastic bags on certain days practice. Unless the supermarket where i saw these plastic bottles of water being sold has already abandoned the no-plastic bag policy. Which is good. But be bold enough to declare it, so that competitors will come to their senses too.

Save Gaia by all means but by doing things that really benefit the environment, not by adopting what is effectively zero-sum environmental chic.

something wrong with S'pore's tap water?