the garden slug

Dear Jinks

We’d like to apologise to you (and to the many quietly suffering readers out there) for our ‘off putting’ behaviour & blatant disregard for the lack of blog posts. *pulls ears & does a thousand squats*

It did cross our minds to write a quick blog post telling everyone how busy we’ve been at the shoppe (thanks to everyone’s awsum support! Everybody say Pizzarrrrrr!!) but we stopped ourselves thinking that might sound like we’re boasting. Boastful behaviour might be off putting too. So we didn’t write that blog post. I mean, we call ourselves a “humble li’l diner” and all…

Then we thought we might write about how our little shoppe got flooded twice this past month. But we got busy cleaning up the shop to make sure it’s really, um, clean.. so we didn’t get to blog about that either.

But maybe we should have.

We’ve always had this strange idea that nobody reads our drivel blog.

It is obvious to us now, with 4 comments on the last blog post alone (which is the most number comments we’ve ever gotten on ANY blog post.. honest!) that we are completely wrong. We need to ‘wake up our idea’ and do something about our self-esteem issues.

So, here we’ve dedicated an entire blog post to our public apology. We are very sorry, from the bottom of our sluggy hearts. We know that from the day we decided to have a blog, it is our responsibility to make sure it is updated as often as possible.

Here’s to more drivel & unfunny jokes blog posts from us! Pinky promise!

Meanwhile, Jinks (and other quietly suffering readers out there), if you’re on Facebook – we’re on Facebook too. We update fairly often, about our weekly specials, and sometimes about other people’s cats and dogs and parrots.

Also, if you’re on Twitter – we’re on Twitter too. We update there quite often, like two or three times a day? We post photos of food, goings-on in the shop, daily specials, who’s on shift, and generally have all kinds of conversations with other ‘Twitterers’.

Thank you for caring, Jinks, and for giving us a good wake up call. Let’s keep this conversation going, k?

Lots of Love,
The Garden Slug

They so pretty.

We’re just tabulating the feedback cards for José’s Apple Cranberry Streusel project from last month. We’d like to thank everyone who filled out the cards for your honesty and the constructive criticism.

We got a good laugh out of some of the “artwork” you left us at the back of the card. This one stood out the most because we just couldn’t make any sense out of it.

Can the artist responsible for this please come forward & drop us an e-mail at justask@thegardenslug.com (or DM us if you follow us on Twitter). We’d like you offer you an Apple Cranberry Streusel on the house!

In other news, we are happy to announce that Louise Slug has joined our team full-time. Louise will be our Operations Supervisor, in addition to José Slug. Louise, thank you for wanting to be a part of our humble li’l establishment, we are truly honoured.

Here’s to more Slug Power! \o/

—
UPDATE: The artists have spoken!

You guys are a riot! We’ll be e-mailing you soon, watch that inbox

[ Link ]

Realize it’s possible, instead of telling yourself why you can’t.
Become aware of your self-talk.
Squash negative thoughts like a bug.
Replace them with positive thoughts.
Love what you have already.
Be grateful for your life, your gifts, and other people.
Every day.
Focus on what you have, not on what you haven’t.
Don’t compare yourself to others.
But be inspired by them.
Accept criticism with grace.
But ignore the naysayers.
See bad things as a blessing in disguise.
See failure as a stepping stone to success.
Surround yourself by those who are positive.
Complain less, smile more.
Image that you’re already positive.
Then become that person in your next act.

Focus on this habit first, and you’ll have a much easier time with any other.

‘A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.’ ~Herm Albright

( via )

Apparently for this slug, just one strawberry pear cider does the trick.

We’ve brought in a small quantity of not-so-mainstream beer & ciders.

Come see if we can out-lobster Sophia Slug this weekend. Hur hur

Sans lucky draws & door gifts, this is how we celebrate our annual D&D (dinner & drink – no dance!)

Rule #1: A well-stocked fridge of alcohol thirst-quenching beverages is a must.

Jian Yun made a très chic starter of rock melon wrapped w/ parma ham

Wei Yang made an awesome egg-drop soup. You will be seeing this as a Soup of the Day soon (we put a gun to his head & demanded it!)

Sophia made butter raisin brown rice

…and chicken curry

Sharon made sambal prawns w/ french beans

Jian Yun made his version of a tofu & roasted vege piquant

Joe brought pizza

Shaun brought pie

Leo made some incredibly well-battered, crunchy chicken wings

Jian Yun made roasted potatoes in sweet garlic & rosemary olive oil

Joe’s super spicy pizza

And now, time for dessert! But before that, let’s cut to a short commercial break, brought to you by The Garden Slug LLP.

So there was this discussion about a shop selling very good popiah skin just down the road from Sophia’s place at Joo Chiat. Did I say discussion? I meant semi-drunk slug speak.
Leo: Ya I always buy from there. It’s very good, but very expensive, very expensive!
Joe: How much?
Leo: Very expensive, verrrry expensive…
Joe: How much?
Leo: It’s very good, I always buy from there. But I tell you, it’s very expensive! You can sit there & eat, very expensive!
Joe: How much?
…
and this goes on in a never-ending loop for about 2 minutes.

OK dessert time.

José made a delightful Graham Cake, topped w/ condensed milk & strawberries

Alex brought traditional Indonesian cakes

Kenny brought more cakes (our slugs really like having their cakes, and they eat them too!)

Michael brought donuts

And after we wiped out the alcohol thirst-quenching beverages…

… this is the kind of conversation that ensues

Sharon: Heard that Eng’s wonton mee at Dunman Food Centre is very good…
Joe: Oh, Eng Seng ah… Eng Seng is craB!
Sophia: No ah, Eng’s not craP! They are pretty good!
Joe: It’s craB! Eng Seng is craB…
Sophia: No ah, not craP! it’s good.
Joe: It’s craB.
…
This, too, goes on in a never-ending loop for another 2 minutes

Sharon: Guys, I’m talking about Eng’s, not Eng Seng. They sell wonton noodles…
Joe: Oh, Eng’s har.
Sophia: Yaaa, Eng’s wonton mee, at Dunman Food Centre.
Joe: Oh-khay. But Eng Seng is crab…

Aaaanyhoo.

At one point, all our boys fell silent & were watching TV macam so full of concentration. We thought, okay, is it football or perhaps a sizzling scene on James Bond or what. Sekali ah… they were watching Asian Food Channel.

Food nerdz r us.

L-R: Michael, Shaun, Alex, Joseph, Wei Yang, Jian Yun, Sophia, Kenny, Leo, José Mari, Sharon

Wait, did I say we wiped out the drinks? Actually Leo single-handedly wiped out most of the booze thirst-quenching beverages. Amazingly, he was still very lucid till the very end. LEO YOU THE CHAMPION!

Some of us are having yesterday’s leftovers for lunch today (curry always tastes better the next day). And people who run restaurants have really small home fridges. It’s a fact. Yep.

We’re a humble li’l diner made up of a hardworking li’l team. We’re not a large corporate type of place. I think we kinda like it that way.

Finally! The slugs get to hang up their aprons and get together for their annual Dinner & Dance. This is incredibly belated as we were toooo busy with Turkey TV in Decemeber. So, all the slugs will trot to Sophia slug’s humble new abode for a pot luck session and meet her food-named pets. (Pancat the feline superstar and Peanut the Samseng cocker)

We will keep you posted on what each slug brought. Let’s hope we don’t end up with 12 tubs of agar-agar. Or 12 bags of nacho chips! ha… ** To Joe slug- you are not allowed to bring Pineapple tarts **

So, see you on 2 Feb Tuesday 6pm back at the shop. Rest of the week : sluggin’ it out as usual! See ye~

Hi! We’ve got off-site events on 4 and 5 Dec ( Fri and Sat) and will be open from 5pm-11pm for dinner..  Call us for dinner reservations at 63460504 / 81387539 sophia/ 90064163 joe /92257913 sharon  :-)