Delicious Directions

 I started blogging in 2006. You could say that this was the most successful year that I’ve ever had, both from a personal and professional point of view. The highlight of that year being hired by the Saudi Embassy to assist for the visit of the late Crown Prince Sultan to Singapore and of course, this was the year I met Kiddo who was then seven, and I suddenly discovered what it was like to live for something greater than myself.

Blogging was an in-between gig. I was writing and getting published by the Today Newspaper and the Straits Times Forum. However, there were times when what I wrote didn’t get published and so I needed a place where I could place the unpublished. So, this was the rationale behind blogging.

However, as things developed, I found that people were actually visiting my little corner of cyberspace and clients would actually tell me that they enjoyed reading what I had written. The coin did drop that I might have something on my hands. So, I continued to rant and rave about this and that. Reached a stage where I had the audacity to imagine that I could earn something from it and so, I added a Google Adsense account and continued raving away in the hope that I might eventually ditch the day job.

Continued blogging to an extent where I got warned by my own father about annoying the government. I was clearly not a good listener and continued until fourteen-years after I started, I ended up agreeing to let both TREmeritus and Independent Singapore pick up my pieces.  Traffic grew and I guess last year was a significant enough year when I actually had someone complain to IMDA about me. Traffic grew and I believe June 2023 proved to be a freakishly good month in terms of the traffic growth:

 

 So, having reached a stage where I was getting lucky consistently with getting eye balls onto my section of cyberspace (notice I only talked about traffic – not money), I guess the question was what else was there for me other than to continue ranting and raving in cyberspace.

What does one do when all you have to show for is your ranting? I guess the answer is to continue ranting in cyberspace but in a more focused manner. The “Beautifully Incoherent,” brand was just that. I just ranted and raved on anything under the sun – on topics that irked me enough to write. So, the question was then moved to what I could I possibly rant and rave about in a focused manner.

The question inevitably led to food. At the age of 38, I took up part-time job in the restaurant to supplement my income from freelance consultancy. It turned out I was actually pretty good at serving and selling food and drink. Didn’t seem to be able to anything else but I managed to move good food. The reason was that I tasted everything that came in and out of the kitchen and knew what I wanted to share with the world.

To confirm that the Bistrot was not a fluke, I managed to do the same in Vietnamese restaurant, which would later reinvent itself into a Korean restaurant. Restaurants provided me with an insight how the world ticked.

My second piece of good fortune was to meet an extraordinary person called Genia. We met at my day-job anniversary function. Didn’t really speak to her much but many months latter she asked me out for a drink. There we were in a bar and then she pulled her phone and showed me a treasure of food places. Then it occurred to me that we shared was a love of a meal and if we could combine my ability to rant and familiarity with the ins and outs of a restaurant with her connections into the world of foodies, we could actually come up with something pretty interesting.

So, the two of us have come together to start a blog which tell the story of the Yummy stuff in the world. Since both of us are born in the Chinese Year of the Tiger, the name of the Blog is called Chubby Tigers Yummy Finders. We want to be the place where you meet all elements of Yummy. We want to talk to the personalities, visit the places and of course, bring you the dishes that make the experience a Yummy one.

 

 

 Chubby Tigers Finding Yummy (Tang Li at 123 Zo and Genia Wee at Bruno’s Bistrot)

The of the blog is https://chubbytigersyummyfinders.blogspot.com/. As of now, its an empty space but like all good works, it will be layered and enrichened as we talk about the Yummy places in Singapore and beyond. We’ve already set up accounts on Facebook and Instagram, and we would welcome you to be friends and followers on the respective platforms. We want to work with restaurants and food outlets to help your business grow by sharing the Yummy that you produce.

In my personal capacity, I will continue to rant and rave over here on the socio-political issues that have been my passion for so many years. However, I would really appreciate if you could also support me and Genia on the Chubby Tigers platform. Both Genia and I are open to working with people who have a passion for the Yummy and if you want to sit down and discuss Yummy places, please email us at chubbytigersyummyfinders@gmail.com. We look forward to seeing you on our Chubby Tigers platform soon.