'The Book of Elsewhere' Is Truly Elsewhere

You sell me this name. It's Keanu Reeves. Even if it sucks, I have to read the book. Keanu Reeves teamed up with British China Miéville to do this sorta sci-fi but not sci-fi story titled 'The Book of Elsewhere' (July 2024). 

Tbh, I was super skeptical. I refuse to read the 'BRZRKR' series of comic books written by Keanu Reeves and Matt Kindt, and illustrated by Ron Garney. This immortal warrior is not my thing. Then there's the whole series spin-off titled 'Bloodlines', which is written by Keanu Reeves again, with Mattson Tomlin, and illustrated by Steve Skroce. 

But this book is set in the 'BRZRKR' world. So if I don't flip through those comics, I would be quite lost. I had to scramble to read other reviewers' comments and summaries. Ha. I'm back with this thread of the immortal warrior struggling with his immortality. Sigh. Young B who learnt about his "dayfather" and the blue lightning as his "nightfather".  (Reviews here, here, and here.)

The immortal warrior Unute/B has been alive for almost 80,000 years. He can be injured but not killed. He can be 'reborn' via an egg. I was like, isn't that like the Paleolithic period which saw abrupt cooling and warming cycles? If that didn't kill Unute/B.... then I reminded myself that we're in the book's universe.

"I kill," he said to me, slow and implacable. "I die," he said. "I come back." 

Right now, present day, Unute/B is with the military, enlisted in black ops, of course. Dr Diana Ahuja leads the scientific unit in the military that studies his powers and strength. The unit mainly creates technological warfare advances, but does nothing to solve his immortality problem. The digital copy holds two fonts — different typeface for different eras.

There is a pre-historic pig who is in the same situation as Unute/B, and spends eons tracking the immortal down to gore him. I have no idea why the pig is here. Why must it gore him? Why him? At this point, I was absolutely lost. I have no idea what the actual story is.

In all fairness, the actor made it clear that the writer wrote the book, and not him. The writing is done properly so. The plot holes are glaringly hilarious. STILL.

Towards the second dawn, after hours of motionlessness, the egg twitched. The man watched. He held his breath. From within, a point like a spear pushed through it, stretched the fleshy membrane, splitting it, and out blurted a sopping pool of thick liquid. The rip grew wider, and out of the shade within spilled the raw pink body of a babirusa. Sharp bladed teeth. It lay wheezing. 

"Welcome," Unute whispered. 

The pig kicked, and staggered, and stood, and turned around and saw him. He sat still. A shudder passed all the way through its body. 

"Not used to seeing me so quickly," Unute whispered. 

The pig hunched. It stared at him.

"You don't have to," he whispered. 

It emitted its first sound, a horrid scream, into the desert night. It stamped, tusks shining, skin still growing upon it. The man put his hands out ready, and as it came for him, he turned it gently away.

I'm a hardcore fantasy fan. I like military stories. I can do corny. I can do B-grade. BUT. Haizzzzzz. I'd suggest for y'all... ... Don't Read It.

I'm sorry, Keanu. It's not you. It's me.

Making Most of The Sunny Mornings This Month

The spate of afternoon thunderstorms meant that the husband and I must take turns to stay home with the dog to ease her anxiety. The crack of the thunder is literally earth-shattering. It rocks our core and rattles the windows and doors. It's quite mad. Choya's astraphobia is real. 

We also have to make the most of the morning sunshine to take her out to get in essential vitamin D and up her endorphins in order to combat the high cortisol levels during the full-blown Northeast monsoon. I'm perhaps grateful that the thunder doesn't come in the nights so that I could sleep through.

Took her out for a walk by the sea and met Ryo's pawrents for a coffee. This is a quieter part of East Coast Park that both Ryo and Choya like. Ryo isn't as overwhelmed by humans and dogs along this stretch. Ryo was willing to walk a lot longer than Choya. So his Mom took him for another round along the paths. It's super sunny and hot, but there's shelter and a small breeze that stirred. 

This stretch sees fewer humans, and thanks to the efforts of the park's cleaning crew, it's also cleaner, and I'm not as worried about sharp bits and chicken bones, although both still exist. We'll just have to trust our training of dogs not picking things off of the ground. Luckily for us, Ryo and Choya aren't inclined to eat things outdoors in this manner unless they're so curious about them. While Ryo's mom doesn't mind giving him treats outdoors as a reward, he doesn't want to eat them because he's a tad nervous of the big outdoors.

This Smol Girl happily peed and made a poop. Then she just wanted to sprint around for a few minutes and chill, and sniff. She's not that keen to walk for so long in the sun, and she's generally not that enthusiastic about loooong walks. 

Choya asked to be allowed to run. She prefers to run free here without being judged. But of course we only dropped the leash and let it trail behind her instead of unhooking her altogether. We're not that brave. Off she went sprinting rounds. She loved that wind in her ears. Her face was pure joy. 

Aged Fish Isn't My Thing

I wasn’t too sure about dining at One Prawn & Co at New Bahru since it’s a lot shellfish, and uhhh prawns. Lunch is impossible for me since it’s ramen with prawn broth mostly, along with a few sides and snacks. The dinner menu was wider with more options. 

However, it’s not a restaurant I’d return in a jiffy. They call themselves 'Modern Asian Seafood Grill'. I’m not quite sure of their kitchen’s direction. Their flavors are a tad confusing. There’s nothing inedible or gross. I’m just not hot about its dishes. They’re either lacking in bite, or too overwhelming in trying to be innovative and give diners every flavor out there. This New Bahru outlet officially opens the weekend of 23 November. 

They also put a lot of caviar on the menu, and luckily that's an optional add-on. A crab coquette with sweet mayo and chives at S$16 gives you an optional add-on of 10g of caviar at $48. You might as well just buy a whole tin of caviar at $188. Nope, I don't know what caviar it is. I didn't bother asking. I'm not a fan of caviar and while I used to not mind eating it, over the years, I have ditched it. Now, I wouldn't eat it even it's placed in front of me for free. It's the same reason why I wouldn't touch shark and shark's fin.

Tonight, the kitchen had run out of things we wanted — the spiny lobster poached rice, monkfish skewer and furikake, and monkfish and cashew curry. They also ran out of XO Scottish scallop and vermicelli (one piece at S$28). All are OOS at 7.15pm. Okaaaaay. 

They had the ankimo mousse with pink peppercorn that came stuffed and rolled up in a crispy love letter. We had the beef bulgogi with uni, which was middling. The dry-aged hamachi with kimchi and puffed rice was fine, but the fish was cured way too dry and it took away all the natural flavors of hamachi. Ugh. The cabbage, plum and bonito wasn't great. I dunno, they used red cabbage. I had a different expectation of this dish if you put cabbage and bonito and plum in the same sentence — perhaps a more Japanese interpretation rather than this Asian slaw thing. The squid noodles and ink was okay I guess, but I'm not a big fan of squid.

Their fish is mostly cured. And this is my biggest issue with the restaurant. The 14-day dry-aged kingfish came as a 150-gram portion sliced up with pickled papaya slaw. For now, it's $30 per 100g of aged kingfish fillet. As a main, I found it really weird. It's all sour and sour and more sour. If you have an aged fish as a main, the side shouldn't be a papaya slaw. Eiooooow. I think the kitchen really needs to differentiate their textures and flavors better. It's not astute. The aging of fish has no finesse. The entire dish is really not to my taste. I like my fish fresh and grilled. Not cured and not as ceviche. 

I was a tad curious about the kingfish head with doenjang and ssam. But now, I'm not keen to try it at all. I suppose I could settle for a haddock burger. Ugh. Maybe the next time I come here, I would do that. Stick to conservative things. The restaurant's menu is creative, but its creations aren't suited to my preferred flavors, and definitely doesn't tickle my tastebuds in the right spots. 

This is the 14-day dry-aged kingfish with pickled papaya slaw.