Lobster sashimi

I arrived in Taipei, Taiwan tonight for a work trip. My colleagues know I like Japanese food so we headed to Matsui which is a popular Japanese restaurant.

We ordered a sashimi platter that included lobster.  The upper half of the lobster was intact and the tail portion was split open, revealing the raw meat.  I guess lobsters can sustain tremendous shock to their bodies and survive as our little critter decided to wave at us while we ate it.  I’ve eaten lobster sashimi before but never seen one quite so active.

Umm… yum, I guess.

Hoppy outside Japan!

According to CNNGo, Hoppy is hard-pressed to be found anywhere outside of Japan.  Merrily for us in Singapore, Standing Sushi Bar carries it!

What is Hoppy? It’s a beer… kind of.  Made from salt water, barley, hops and yeast it has a light flavor similar to beer with almost none of the carbs or calories.

What’s that??  A miracle drink??  A beer with low carbs and calories!  Amazing!  Though there’s a catch – hoppy by itself is very low alcohol (.8%).  Leave it up to the Japanese to innovate though… the way to give Hoppy its punch is by adding a large shot of shochu (50 – 70 proof) into the Hoppy giving it a 5% alcohol mix.

Voila – a beer that contains low calories, low carbs and is less-filling.

It used to be drunk by old men (as exclaimed by some Japanese customers when they saw it in the shop) but these days the young in Japan are drinking it for its retro cool factor. I suppose hipsters exist everywhere.

Liquid happiness in a bottle.  Come try it out!  12 SGD while stocks last!

If you can read Japanese, head on over to www.hoppy-happy.com to learn all about hoppy goodness.

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Letter of indemnity for NS deferment application

Just an FYI for employers in Singapore who are going through the National Service  Deferment application process – when the employee fills out the NS Deferment application (MyDeferment application) from www.ns.sg, it states that the employer must fax, within 3 days, the following:

- Letter From Employer
- Letter of indemnity
- Contract details; if any

I think most employers will be puzzled, wondering why they need to send a letter of indemnity with a request for deferment. Searching online did not reveal any information related to NS.

I called the NS office and asked them what I was supposed to put in the letter of indemnity.  Their answer: “No need.”

So there you go – if you’re wondering what to do for the letter of indemnity, don’t worry. You don’t need to submit it.

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