Japanese Sushi

Today I finally went to the Japanese Sushi place I had been eying for a while. Let me say that I am no fan of Japanese food but this place looks kind of cool. The last time I went to a Japanese restaurant was in NYC with a friend and I liked it, so I decided to repeat the experience.

However, there is a twist with this restaurant. It wasn't the food what attracted me in the first place. This restaurant is in the underground passage of Raffles City MRT station and is surrounded by glass walls, so people can see inside. The twist to the restaurant is that it includes a conveyor belt for the food! Yes, people sit in lines and there is a conveyor going in front of patrons with the different dishes going before them. People are free to select whatever they want and at the end of the meal the waitress will tally out the dishes and charge accordingly: 1.99 per regular dish or 3.99 for red dish.

I invited a friend and went to explore this place. He knows about Japanese food, so he was able to recommed some dishes. However, the type of food here is quite different from the one I had in NYC. My friend says this is more authentic and I believe him. I had some suchi that tasted OK. But then my friend had raw salmon and invited me to taste it... I was very polite and I said it was an acquired taste and I tried once: It was horrible! I cannot stand raw fish! I also had some octopus tentacle suchi, a "pregnant" fried fish and soft shell crab. I did not particulary enjoyed the suchi but I found suprisingly good the pregnant fish (is called "pregnant" because it still has the eggs in the belly). Also, the soft shell crab was good and the entire animal is edible. It is prepared by deep friyng it so the shell becomes so soft that it can be eaten. I guess now I can say that I have been to a restaurant where the food goes directely to you without waiters. Great idea

INSEAD talk

Yesterday I went to INSEAD to give the MBA students a talk about risk management and the current financial crisis. A person of the Investment club asked me why I had volunteer to do such talk. My response was simple: I really like what I do and I want people to know more about Risk Management. When I was in Cornell I had a basic idea but I realized that most of my peers did not know much about it and very few were interested in the field.

I figured that some students may be intrigued enough to explore the area and maybe join in the future. During the presentation I recieved question about diverse topics and that is one the elements that I enjoy the most: Beign challenged by a good question. I have been going to different school (NUS, NTU and now INSEAD). I hope to visit some other places to create awareness of my line of work.

Cornell Club of Singapore

A few weeks ago I attended the South East Asia Cornell Club meeting at the Museun of Asian Civilization, very close to my office by the Singapore River. Leaders from Japan, The Phillipines, Korea, Malaysia and Japan (among other places) came. The idea is to have a better integration and help with the fundraising campaign "Far Above" What I found very interesting is that at least 2 people flew from Ithaca to the event. I guess that shows the interest Asia is receiving recently.

I met some interesting people and I learned more about the new campaign that is raising funds for physical additions, scholarships and higher salaries for future professors. I'm planning on attending future events to learn more.