Suppertime

Went out for supper tonight at the Happy Valley HK Cafe at Tiong Bahru. It's open 24 hrs and serves authentic HK food (what else). It is strategically located at a corner of a row of shop houses by the road side visible to all vehicles passing by, which is how we discovered the place.

We have been there a couple of times and the food is interesting if not tasty. But so far the unadventurous me have ordered the same dishes: zhajiang mian and mango pomelo sago dessert. The cafe ambiance does remind me of the HK nightlife. It's worth a try if you have no idea where to go for late-night supper!

Traditional Mindset

Had a lousy evening.

You see, I come from a family whose parents have very traditional mindset and values. Most people would assume that being the youngest and only girl in the family means that I am a pampered child.

Well, I grew up in a family where only boys get to go out to play, and the girl has to stay home to help with chores. The boys get the freedom while the girl is often under house arrest in the name of 'protecting' her. The girl gets bullied by the boys and treated like a pest. The girl is not expected to excel in her studies or be placed in good schools. At the end of the day, she is to be married off and leave the family.

Unfortunately to this day, I am still confined to such stereotype. Over the week, the boys snapped at me while I was trying to organise a family get together. This evening at mum's place for dinner, she prepared a big feast which we only get to enjoy when the boys are around. Mum announced that a relative's daughter will be getting married. One invitation was addressed to the whole family (parents, the boys and spouse) and another was addressed just to us. And mum affirmed that that is the way it should be, as I have been married off and belonged to a different family. Tears welled in my eyes.

Of late, activists are contending for gay rights and woman rights in society, but gender discrimination is already prevalent at home. Such prejudice is reaching an alarming level in many Asian society, which explains the growing imbalance in gender ratio. Is anything being done to address this?

I often admire those close knitted families, caring doting brothers, and sisterly bond. And I thank God for friends who took their place, and for Sam.

The MacRitchie Walk

Yesterday morning, we met the choir folks at MacRitchie to attempt the Treetop Walk. Well, the weather forecast did predict showers with thunderstorm in the morning, but that did not deter the enthusiastic walkers.

We met at Venus Dr car park at 7 am. Everyone was punctual, arriving at about the same time. Surprisingly, the gung-ho group are very fast walkers. We tread through the forest and sloppy trail, but did not make it to the Treetop as it began to drizzle about 45 mins into the walk. And since there were many warning signs calling to us to stop our trekking when it rains, we obediently headed back to the car park.

Well, at least we did better than the last week and walked a longer distance at a faster pace. And what else did we do but to end the walk with a hearty breakfast at Casuarina Rd. As we were rather early, only a prata shop was opened. We had a good breakfast and spent much of the time chatting and catching up with one another.

It amazes me that we are actually meeting these folks so regularly. To be precised, we meet 3 times a week: for the walk, Sunday choir practise and Wed ensemble practise at Mr Ong's. Well, it happens that we are all among those chosen for the 2 small group items for our upcoming concert in KL. The funniest thing was that they wanted us to join them for their first line dance lesson today! Well, that's where we draw the line!

Where are all my peers, I frequently wonder...

Spanish Culinary Workshop

This afternoon we attended a Spanish culinary workshop at Cairnhill CC. It's my first time attending a cooking workshop, apart from the Home Econs class I took in school.

Cooking is not my forte, as I was discouraged after having failed miserably when I tried to replicate at home the 'rock buns' and 'scrambled eggs' I have learnt from school. I did attempt to do some baking now and then, but still lack the motivation. Well that also means that since I'm kitchen incompetent, Sam does most of the cooking. But he enjoys it and does a pretty good job, really. :)

I wanted to learn to cook Spanish cuisine after having really enjoyed the food when we were in Spain. We came across this workshop at one of the Healthy Lifestyle event held at BG recently. So we registered online for our first ever cooking class. It was also our first time to step foot in that CC.

First, we were introduced to the wife of the Spanish Ambassador who briefly attended the session with us. Next we had a lady (from the Embassy) who read from a script explaining the Spanish pop culture. Then the time was handed over to the native culinary expert Mireia Castells, who introduced to us 3 Spanish dishes: Gazpacho (cold tomato soup) for starter, Albondigas (meatballs) for main and Flan for dessert. I was sort of expecting it to be a hands-on session, but it turned out to be just a demo. Fine with me as I did not have to make a fool of myself...

Cooking the Gazpacho is easy as it is a matter of chopping up all the ingredients and putting them in a blender, and adding water, salt & pepper and ice (yes, ice) to taste. The Flan requires a few extra steps but is just as simple. It is the Spanish version of crème brûlée and is to be served cold. As for the Albondigas, that requires some hours of cooking and preparation which the class of mostly ladies enthusiastically chipped in to help during the demo.

We got to taste the food at the end of the demo, and it was pretty good. From this class, I learnt culinary terms like 'Bain Marie' and got to see what a colander looks like :p The 3 hrs class was fun, and I am looking forward to Sam trying out those dishes... :)

Morning Workout with the Folks

This morning, we met some choir folks at 7 am for a workout at the BG. Yes, we woke up earlier than usual just to walk the BG with the folks.

We met at the gate opposite Taman Serasi, and took a leisure walk all the way to the Symphony Stage. There were a few people jogging and some groups doing Taichi. No birds chirping but it was a nice refreshing start to the day... till it started to pour! So after barely half an hour into the walk, we ended up at a make-shift marquee. Fortunately there were chairs around, so the 8 of us sat and chat while waiting for the weather to ease.

Surely I was thinking, how nice it would have been if I was in my cozy bed sleeping with the cool breeze and sound of raindrops in the background. While waiting we had a morning devotion, with Albert sharing a passage from the bible which was meant for his talk with the BB boys later in the morning. As the rain still did not stop after waiting for an hour or so, Sam and Albert decided to walk back to get the car and some brollies for everyone.

Next, we proceeded to Telok Blangah Food Centre for breakfast. It was my first visit to that food centre. We ordered porridge, wanton noodle, dumpling soup, yutiao, carrot cake and pom pom. The food was really delicious. The porridge was smooth and tasty with lots of ingredients and condiments. The wanton noodle was very fine and the prawn in the dumpling tasted fresh. The yutiao was handmade and not oily. Never knew this place existed and will definitely return for the porridge and wanton noodle. Apparently, most of the stalls are closed after lunch and the place is virtually deserted at night.

We parted ways after breakfast. It was another great Sat for us, and another excuse for not quite doing any exercise. :p The folks are planning to conquer the TreeTop walk at Macritchie next Sat. Let's see if it materialise...

Pretzel Pieces

This was first introduced to me by little Sarah when I was in Taiwan. And I got to like the chunks of Sourdough Hard Pretzels especially the honey mustard and toasted onion flavor. It was not available in SG till recently. These Pretzels from Snyders are now found everywhere in supermarkets like Cold Storage. I like it as a healthier (I think) alternative to chips.

Try it! (Hmm, I should get commission doing this...)

The Red Beaded Lamp

On Monday night, we were all excited about putting up our new hanging lamp we had bought from Lims on Sunday. The lamp is made of red beads sewn on nylon strings, about 2 ft high, oblong in shape with openings on two ends and some sort of wooden support structure. It is to replace the white plastic lamp in our guest/piano room. We wanted a nicer and heavier lamp that does not sway violently when the wind blows ...

So we rushed home after work when there's still daylight, and took down the old lamp. We obviously have to switch off the main power to do the job. So when it got darker we decided to put our tea light/candles to good use and placed them in every corner of the room. The new lamp went up after 2 hrs, 3 attempts, aching biceps, strained neck muscles, and much perspiration. Sam put his little electrical know-how to use and plugged the wires correctly into the connector. The arduous task that required a few attempts was concealing of the excess wires in the mental holder and screwing the holder securely on the ceiling. I on the other hand was standing on a bench next to the ladder, supporting the heavy lamp above my head while he fiddle with the wires. Arm workout.

Then with great anticipation we turned on the power, only to be flabbergasted when we found the room lighted orangey red! Horrors! What have we purchased? We were so attracted to the pretty lamp and forgot about its functionality. It will probably look pretty in a big house or at a veranda but not in our small room!

Later we figured that if we change the bulb to a cool light instead of the current 60 watt warm bulb, it may help the situation. So with our fingers crossed, we went out for a quick dinner and headed to the 24hr Mustafa to get our cool light bulb.

Well, let's just say that the solution didn't quite work and the room was lighted pinkish then white. Sigh... there goes our money down the drain. We will probably need to put our red lamp for sale in Mocca and put our white lamp back up again this weekend...