Singapore Food Trail and Chesterfest With C.B. Cebulski

C.B. Cebulski holds the long and fancy title of SVP, Creator and Content Development of Marvel Entertainment but he's actually one of the most down-to-earth person Red Dot Diva has ever met.

This is C.B.'s second visit to Red Dot Island as a guest of STGCC. This time, he arrived a few days early so that he could eat his way across the country one more time.

Instead of being brought around various food places by the Singapore Tourism Board, C.B. decided to go local and asked for a small group of island geeks (and geekette) for suggestions.

If one is not already aware, C.B. is a big-time foodie and he aimed to top last year's eating record in of 15 meals in 6 hours which he accomplished together with fellow comic creators, Matt Fraction and Gail Simone. With the HereBeGeeks guys, Melvin Yong, Ryan and moi assisting C.B. with the nom-fest, beating the previous year's record was chicken feed.

Red Dot Diva couldn't take a day off on Tuesday - the day that the foodfest was going to happen - but she knew that C.B., 1/3 HBG Alvin and Melvin kicked it off with an 11am meetup at the Old Airport Road Hawker Centre. Lots of noodles and kway chap was chowed down! (One can go to C.B. Cebulski's Eataku blog for the pics and story!)

They made their way from there to Hong Lim Food Centre at Chinatown and by the time, they decided to take a break at Cafe Iguana, Red Dot Diva and Ryan managed to catch with the group, which also now consisted of 100% HBG +1 +1.

It was decided that we take a trip back to the East Coast seaside to indulge in even more local food at the cozy Lagoon Food Centre. C.B., Ryan, Melvin and Red Dot Diva made their way there in a cab, while the rest had to walk back to Hong Lim to collect the car, and then drive down to East Coast.

On the way in the cab, the talk turned to the topic of Ryan's hammer-wielding man-crush, Chris Hemsworth and C.B. said he could attest that Chris is definitely as good-looking in person (which made Ryan go oooh) and is also one of the NICEST guy one could ever meet. Obviously, fame and "being Thor" hasn't gone into Chris Hemsworth's head yet.

At the Lagoon Centre, while waiting for the rest to arrive, C.B. was given an orientation of the different kinds of food available there. And when he noticed that the sea was really close by, he wanted to take some photos and a video of it. As it was nearing sundown, the idyllic scene was quite picturesque.

When everyone had gathered together again, the dinner food-ordering began. Red Dot Diva was still having a bad cough and sore throat, and was dying for a drink, so she ordered a can of her favourite pop - the old skool Kickapoo - which has an appropriately kinky tagline. It has always been a running joke with Red Dot Diva's ex-colleagues and friends that she absolutely loves her "Joy Juice". This particular drink can is also now immortalized on C.B.'s Eataku blog right here!

C.B. with his beer, Diva with her Joy Juice

If one is curious about the final food list that night, here it is:
- Barbecued Chicken Wings
- Fried Chicken Wings with Shrimp Paste
- Fried Oyster Omelette
- Barbecued Sting Ray
- Mutton Satay
- Pork Satay
- Pork Belly Satay

Red Dot Diva thought the pork belly satay was a surprise. The meat was oh-so-succulent and really tasty. And the mutton satay from the famous Haron food stall was fantastic too. It was just such a pity that the peanut gravy from Haron was all watered-down.

The evening wound down with more geeky comics talk, where the guys reminisced about where and how they got their first comics, and old comics stores that have closed down since then. The group also filled C.B. in with the latest STGCC-goss, which was of particular interest to him.

By 9 pm, it was clear that C.B. is still tired from the long trip and everyone decided to call it the close of Singapore Food Trail Day 1.

The final food tally for Day 1?

In C.B.'s own words on Twitter: "10.5 hours of eating & drinking, 20 dishes, 4 drinks & only 3 trips to the bathroom! A successful day indeed!"

On Singapore Food Trail Day 2, 2/3 HBG accompanied C.B. for a yummy dinner at Sin Huat, Geylang. Red Dot Diva is sure C.B. will be blogging this gastronomical experience soon enough!

The day ended with Chesterfest at Brewerkz, Riverside Point. Chesterfest is a chillout time for fans to gather and hang out with C.B.

Only a handful of fans turned up. Maybe because it was mid work-week and most are still slaving away in their office cubies. Those who were there were the usual suspects - 2/3 HBG, Ryan, Nicholas Yong and Red Dot Diva, and there was also one new friend Benson. Local artist Kelvin Chan joined us for a round of drinks as well at around 10pm.

In between all the beer-guzzling (and margarita-sipping), the geek talk could not be avoided and tons of background information and gossip were exchanged that nite. As Wai, 1/3 HBG, said, "I want to go home earlier, but I'm having too much fun!"

With that much fun had, the group was actually one of the last bunch of people to leave Brewerkz!

On behalf of the group, Red Dot Diva warmly thanks C.B. Cebulski for taking the time to hang out with the local geeks.

It was indeed a lovely 2 nights of good food, geeky fun and enlightening conversation!