A look back

Two major issues that had happened in 2009. First is the decision to quit my 4-year full-of-fun-but-going-nowhere job, and second, was the arrival of my niece, Natalie. Of course there were other issues, but they were not as important as these two, or are too personal to share. And since I couldn't think of anything more to write up about 2009, I shall leave you with this short note that Ray, my fellow colleague and good friend, had summarised about our 4-year journey together with our other 2 colleagues, in the same workplace.

The story of the bus driver and his passengers

I guess it all got started about 4 years ago? The journey of a bus driver and his passengers.

I can still remember there was once this bus driver….determined and driven, looking for the right passengers to board his bus……

The destination? The journey bounding for the Promised Land; or so it was promised.

He found 4 passengers of different character and skills and for a short time, the journey through the scenic meadow was both beautiful and glorious but good time, like roses, didn’t last. The bus driver lost his direction and motivation soon after and begun taking a back seat, leaving the passengers in utter astonishment. Forced to take over the reign, the 4 passengers tried to steer the bus back to its original path but were met with frustrating obstacles. There were suddenly many bus stops, slowing the journey to a snail pace and many drivers started to board the bus, demanding different pit stops and destinations. Shortly after, one passenger got pulled out of the bus, promised a better transport (a merc cab?) to a better destination, The Nirvana. He was promised of a more comfortable and professional journey in his merc cab. But the rest of the passengers knew, the poor guy was actually been transferred onboard a lorry filled with blanghras and was heading towards the black hole.

Nevertheless the 3 remaining passengers trudged on…. Struggling through the bumpy, cloudy desert road.

Time flew and like what time can do to everything, things got numb – the millions of last minute pit stops, trillions of empty promises, zillions of conflicting directions from various bus drivers and most importantly, the journey with no ending in sight, did not matter anymore. The stand-in passengers were tired.

And so finally, they decided to press the bell. They have decided..... to take the MRT.

Inside-joke story.

Looking back, the 4 passengers believe in efficiency. They kept the ultimate destination in mind all the time. They tried to steer the bus back on route with all their might. They tried to sound out when things go wrong, tried to standardize correct practices and even tried to find alternative to problems but their voices were often sniffled, deem to be complain~y or critical.

Looking back, maybe the bus never did left the bus station in the first place ya?

hahaha

Anyway, the journey had been a rewarding one. The passengers bonded together, became close friends and companions and no hard grudges were bear since bus drivers and passengers all got their own objectives, goals and ways of handling a bus. :)

To the cinema : Bodyguards and Assassins (十月围城)

This is the last movie that we watched for 2009, and coincidentally (or not) the previous Mandarin movie we had watched was also has Donnie Yen in it. Heh.

I didn't read up about this movie, or look at reviews before stepping into the cinema. So, there was not much expectations, and I was surprised about the VIP cast, even though some appeared only for less than 10 minutes. And as I thought back about it, I realised that this is those kind of 50-50 movie, where you like it 50% but on the other hand, dislike the other 50%.

There is nothing much to talk about the film without giving the simple and somewhat expected plot away. But I can say that the 50% I like is the way the characters were introduced, and how their relationships were clearly shown. The 50% I dislike is that I expected much more action since there is Donnie Yen in it. And when there were actions in some scenes, they were over a little too quickly before we can see the skills of the character, and get excited over the fighting.

And apologies to Leon Lai fans who happen to read this. For the life of me, I can't understand why the team cannot find another more suitable face or personality for this character. I admit I was never a fan of Leon Lai, and the image of him in this movie is really not for him at all. I couldn't stop laughing whenever he appeared, and same goes for the girl sitting beside me in the cinema.

Gong Zai Mian (公仔面)

I could still remember my very first "encounter" with Gong Zai Mian. It was my very first trip to Hong Kong with the husband (then boyfriend) and my girl friend. We had randomly stepped into a modest eatery for lunch and were browsing through the menu on the wall when this dish caught my eye. It sounded like something quite interesting and since I am more of a noodle person, I placed an order for it. And imagine our surprise when it arrived... instant noodles with a sunny-side up, luncheon meat and some vegetables.

So with some leftover luncheon meat, Gong Zai Mian came to mind. From the few blog posts I read, the instant noodles must be Nissin's Chu Qian Yi Ding (出前一丁). And this is such a simple meal that can be whipped up quickly and cheaply, it's atrocious how much those Hong Kong Cafes here charge for this dish.

And apologies if the egg didn't look as appealing as a sunny-side coz I'm not a fan of uncooked egg yolk. ;p

Luncheon meat and egg sandwich

There is something about the canned luncheon meat that I will not get tired of. The slight saltiness and the crispiness of it when fried, is forever so addictive. Yes, I know about healthy living and all that stuff. Don't worry. Luncheon meat is not something we eat all the time. We, or rather, I, have it once in a while when the craving sets in.

I can't remember the last time I had a luncheon meat and egg sandwich. But I remembered my mother used to make it for me whenever I went for school excursions during the primary school days. There was this one trip to Sentosa, when it started to rain heavily as we were heading back to the school bus. Since none of us had umbrellas with us, we had to brave through the rain. By the time we got on the bus, my classmates and I were nearly drenched and cold, no thanks to the air-con. At that moment, I remembered the packed luncheon meat and egg sandwiches my mother made for me. And though they were already somewhat soggy, they still tasted wonderful to me. I ate everything while my classmates watched with envy.

Ad attraction

Once in a while, a song from some advertisement will grab my attention and I would start to Google or go to YouTube to look for it. It's like a new song that "clicked" with you the moment you hear it, and you wouldn't mind it circling in your head for the whole day. And by whatever means, I'll have to get it as my handphone ringtone. And the lastest one is this :



The previous commercial song that got my attention, and is still my SMS ringtone was this :

Char Kway Teow

Yes, yes, I know my char kway teow is much 'paler' than the original ones that we are used to (unless we are talking about the Penang one). I only eyeballed the dark soy sauce amount, but I think there would not be much difference to the overall taste, except maybe a more distinct sweetness of the sauce if I had put in more.

In fact, this is one dish that I didn't really follow the measurements from the recipe. I only used it as a guide to get the ingredients and the steps to frying it. And I'm glad to say that it turned out quite well. However, I didn't really read the blog post well enough to see the suggestion : The trick to this dish is to use high heat and cooked one serving at a time for maximum 'wok hey' (wok's breath). I'll be sure to keep this in mind coz I know there will be a next time. :)

Char Kway Teow (Recipe from here )

Ingredients :

- 250 gm Kueh Teow (flat rice noodles)
- 150 gm prawns - shelled
- 100 grm of meat or cockles (I used char siew)
- a handful of beansprouts
- 5 stalks chives or spring onions - cut into 2cm lengths
- 2 eggs
- 3 cloves of garlic - finely chopped
- 2 tsp of chili paste - optional
- 3 tbsp of light sauce sauce
- 2 tbsp of dark soy sauce
- Salt and pepper to taste

Directions :

1. Heat up wok to high heat, add oil and garlic and fry till fragrant.

2. Add prawns, meat and ground chili and stir-fry for about 20 secs.

3. Add noodles, stir fry for a few second, add in soy sauce and dark soy sauce. Continue to fry until everything is well combined. Add in beansprouts.

4. Push mixture to edge of wok, add a little oil in centre. Add and fry the eggs and then mix everything together. Check seasoning.

5. Lastly add in chives or spring onions and give the noodles a few toss.

6. Dish out and serve hot.

Braised Ginger Chicken with Potatoes

I admit that when it comes to food, I'm a little weird and maybe a little picky sometimes, yes, just sometimes. Weird in the sense that I only eat the skin of the chicken if it's deep-fried or roasted. I cannot stand the 'squishy-ness' and the slight taste of fat of the chicken skin if it is cooked any other way.

So, understandably, I would choose chicken fillets instead of chicken drumsticks as stated in the original recipe. I also realised that chicken fillets are not as dry as chicken breasts, if cooked quick and right.

Braised Ginger Chicken with Potatoes (Recipe from here)

Ingredients:

- Chicken drumsticks - 5 pcs, chopped into chunks
- Coriander leaves, one handful, chopped (I forgot about this so I used spring onions)
- Potatoes - 2 medium sized, chunks
- Ginger - 10 slices
- Garlic - 2 cloves, minced
- Shallots - 1 pc, sliced
- Salt - 2 tsp
- Dark soya sauce - 2 tbsp
- Sesame oil - 1/2 tsp

Seasonings:

- Light soya sauce - 1 tbsp
- Lee & Perrin sauce - 1 tsp (I omitted this)
- Salt & pepper - Dash
- Sesame oil - 1 tsp

Directions:

1. Marinate chicken drumsticks with seasonings. Set aside for 20 mins.

2. Sautee garlic, shallots, ginger till fragrant.

3. Add in potatoes and sautee till potatoes are slightly brown.

4. Add in marinated chicken, stir fry for 10 mins.

5. Add salt. Stir occasionally till chicken is half cooked and fragrant.

6. Then, add warm water to cover 3/4 of the chicken. Simmer with lid covered till sauce is thicken.

7. When the sauce is half thicken, add in coriander leaves. Simmer for another 10 mins.*

8. Off fire, stir in dark soya sauce and sesame oil, mix well.

9. Dish up, garnish with some coriander leaves and serve.

*Note : If you are using chicken fillets or breasts, I think you can keep the simmering to under 10 minutes, or the better gauge is to check for the consistency of the sauce.

三杯鸡 (Three Cups Chicken)

Sometimes, the cooking mood will strike and I would find myself looking through my online bookmarks to see what I can whip up next for the guinea pig husband. Or a recipe that I had read before will suddenly pop up in my mind and I told myself that I had to try it.

And this was what happened with this Three Cups Chicken recipe. I came across it on a blog a long time ago and thought it might be interesting to try but I didn't keep the link. Until recently, I was reading my latest favourite blog, The Little Teochew, and it so happened that she had cooked the dish. And it didn't seemed as complicated as I remembered. The only thing I would change is to use a fork to poke some holes through the chicken skins before marinating so the sauce would be thoroughly soaked through.

Update : I did this a second time, and poked a few tiny holes through the chicken wings before marinating them. And the final product did taste much much better, with the seasonings getting right into the meat.

Three Cups Chicken (recipe from : here)

Ingredients : (according to what I bought and used)

- 2 packs of chicken (mid-wing parts only)

- 1/3 cup Hua Tiao chinese rice wine
- little less than 1/3 cup sesame oil
- little less than 1/3 cup light soy sauce

- 1 bulb garlic, separated into individual cloves, skins on

- 2 tbsp fine sugar

- 3 large bunches of spring onions, cut into 1 inch lengths

Directions :

1. Marinate chicken with soy, sesame oil and rice wine. At least for 6 hours, although overnight is best.

2. Take the chill off the meat. Heat up some sesame oil in a wok or claypot until it is sizzling hot.

3. Throw in garlic, ginger and spring onions. Fry briefly till fragrant. Add in chicken and sear.

4. Keep stir-frying. Pour in the marinade liquid and the sugar. Continue to cook on medium.

5. Once you have a rolling boil, cover the wok/claypot and let it simmer over a small flame, until all the liquid has disappeared and the chicken is on the cusp of burning.

6. There should hardly be any gravy left. The chicken should be caramelised (charred at parts, even) and sizzling when served.

Stuffed Tau Poks

Once in a long long while, I could surprise myself by being much more hardworking than usual when it comes to food. We were supposed to attend a wedding dinner of a friend, and knowing the time that the actual eating begin at most wedding dinners, I thought that the husband and I could have some snacks before we leave.

This immediately came to mind and I started preparing it around 3 in the afternoon. I didn't know what came over me to be so diligent that day, but I was glad I gave the stuffed tau poks (tofu puffs) a try. Though the preparation and cooking took some time, the final product was worth the effort! :)

Oven-baked sweet potato chips

The last few times we went to the supermarket, the husband lingered a bit longer at the potato chips section. But he always managed to resist the temptation. So, considering his constant need to snack and in hopes to satisfy his craving for the heavily salted potato chips off the shelves, I decided to try out a version of oven-baked sweet potato chips I found online.

Since I didn't have a mandolin slicer, I had to try to cut the sweet potato slices as uniform in thickness as possible. Other than that, the rest of the process was simple.

Oven-baked sweet potato chips (recipe from : here)

Ingredients :

- 1 sweet potato

- vegetable oil for spraying

- sea salt

- mandolin slicer(preferably)

Directions :

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Slice potatoes with a mandolin slicer. Lay out the potato slices on a single sheet in the oven. Spray the potatoes with vegetable oil on each side and sprinkle lightly with salt. Bake for 10-20 minutes, monitoring the chips frequently to make sure they don't burn. If you want, you can flip the chips halfway through baking. Let cool a bit and then serve!

Butter Chicken (Murg Makhani)

A few weeks ago, Sam brought us to this North Indian/Pakistani restaurant called Usman at Arab Street. Ever since that meal of delicious butter chicken and naan, we were already planning for our next trip there. Meanwhile, the husband thought I could search the Internet for the recipe and try it at home first. A very big vote of confidence there. :)

Anyway, my search brought up a number of butter chicken recipes and I chose the one that seemed the most authentic (but easy) to try. And as you can see from the picture, there was no gravy at all! I didn't know why since the recipe keeps mentioning the word "gravy", or maybe there was something missing? But luckily, the chicken tasted good, and instead of naan, I think this would go much better with white rice.

However, with the indian spices already bought for use, I will be trying out the other bookmarked butter chicken recipe, which I hope would yield some gravy coz I see that tomato paste is one of the ingredient. But for now, the recipe for this dry version of butter chicken :

Butter Chicken (Murg Makhani) (recipe from here)

4 servings

Ingredients :

For marination :
- 800 grams of chicken cut into pieces (preferably boneless)
- 1 tablespoon(s) slightly sour yoghurt (I didn't use this)
- 1 tablespoon(s) vinegar or lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon(s) each of coriander, cumin and red chilli powders
- 1 onion chopped and made into a paste (optional)
- 2 teaspoon(s) each of ginger, garlic pastes
- salt to taste

For the gravy :
- 4 large tomatoes chopped
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon(s) fresh cream
- 1 teaspoon(s) each of coriander, cumin, red chilli and black pepper powders
- 2 teaspoon(s) each of finely chopped ginger and green chillies
- salt and sugar to taste
- melted butter, fresh cream and finely chopped coriander leaves for garnishing

Directions :

1) Prick holes and make cuts in the chicken pieces. Mix well the ingredients for the marinade and rub into the chicken pieces. Let it marinate for a few hours, overnight if possible for best results.

2) Heat half the butter on medium level in a heavy-bottomed pan and put in the chicken along with the marinade. cover and cook for about 25 minute(s) or till the chicken is fully cooked. After the liquids have evaporated, stir fry the chicken for some time in the residual fat.

3) Heat the remaining butter in a saucepan and add the red chilli, coriander, cumin and black pepper powders. Fry for a few seconds. Add the chopped tomatoes, sugar, salt and cook uncovered on medium level for about 7 minutes till the puree thickens and the fat separates. Stir in the beaten cream and reduce the heat to low.

4) Add the chicken, chopped ginger and green chillies to the simmering gravy. Sprinkle salt to taste if needed. Mix well. Cover and simmer on low heat for about 10 minutes or till the curry is thoroughly heated through.

5) Just before serving pour melted butter over the curry. Garnish with a swirl of fresh cream and finely chopped coriander leaves.

Note : I got this tip from another blogger, who is a stay-at-home mum. She mentioned that, to prevent your eyes from tearing when cutting onions, just put a lighted tea candle near the work area. The supposed 'fumes' from the onion which made us teared will be burned off. And it really works! :)

Chicken and mushroom wontons

This recipe is taken from Marie Claire : Easy, which I had made the shrimp wontons from it previously too. There was also no noodles this time round because I managed to come up with about 36 wontons and we had it with some carrots and cabbage boiled in chicken stock. The chicken wontons were not too bad overall though we were a bit stuffed at the end. However, I much prefer the taste of the shrimp wontons. Maybe because there was a sweetness of the shrimps or maybe it was because I used chicken cubes in water instead of chicken stock, which might have caused the difference too.

Chicken and mushroom wontons (recipe from : Marie Claire : Easy)

Ingredients :

- 4 dried shittake mushrooms

- 1 cup ground chicken

- 4 tablespoons finely chopped bamboo shoots (I didn't add this coz there was none for sale at NTUC)

- 2 tablespoons light soy sauce

- 1 teaspoon finely grated fresh ginger

- 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

- 1 pack square wonton wrappers

Directions :

1. Soak the shittake mushrooms in hot water for 30 minutes. Drain the mushrooms, squeeze out any excess moisture and cut off the tough stalks. Finely chop the mushrooms and put them into a bowl with the chicken, bamboo shoots, soy sauce, ginger and sesame oil. Gently stir to combine the filling ingredients.

2. Put a wonton wrapper on a clean work surface and put a heaping teaspoon of the filling into the centre. Moisten the edges and draw all in together. Pinch to form little bags.

3. Put the wontons onto a steamer to steam for 15 minutes.

Note : I didn't steam them but drop them to cook in boiling chicken stock.

And so it ends...

Yes. It has finally come to an end, a certain chapter of my life will be closed from this day on. It was certainly a strange feeling. How is it possible that a person can feel un-burdened and free, but also at the same time, a little sad and lost?

Steamed egg

I've decided to be brave one evening and try my hand at making steamed egg. It may sound like a simple enough dish, but I had seen the few times that even my mum couldn't really get it right. But then again, it may be due to the size of the dish used as well... my mum had to cook for 6, and I had only to cook for 2, and I already spent about 20 minutes steaming it. It was a dish that tested a little of my patience.

Steamed eggs

Ingredients :

- 3 eggs, lightly beaten
- 300 ml of water
- spring onions, chopped
- soy sauce for taste

additional topping :
- cooking oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- pickled radish (chai poh), minced

Directions :

1) Bring water to boil in a steamer and turn down the heat to a low simmer.

2) Mix the beaten eggs and water in a dish and place into the steamer. While waiting for the eggs to cook, heat up some cooking oil in a frying pan and add in the garlic. Stir-fry it til fragrant and add in the pickled radish. Continue frying til they browned.

3) After 15 minutes or so, insert a knife in the centre to ensure that the egg is not too runny. The final result should be slightly soft but firm and still a bit wobbly when you shake the dish. (This is the part where you have to be patient. I read somewhere that the time to cook actually depends on the heat of water. DO NOT try to turn up the heat or the eggs will be overcooked)

4) Remove from the steamer and sprinkle with the spring onions, the fried garlic and pickled radish mixture, as well as some light soy sauce for taste.

Stir-fry cucumber with dried shrimps

This is a really simple dish that I learnt from my grandma years ago. I was giving full time private tuition at that time, and so, we usually had our lunch together most of the days. And because her health was not too good, I would cook the meals, unless she craved for some hawker food. Though she had been gone for a few years, I was really thankful for that period of time I had shared with her. There were so many things that I had learnt from her.

Anyway, here is the recipe :

Stir-fry cucumber with dried shrimps

Ingredients :

- 1 cucumber, skin off, de-seeded and cut into strips

- a handful of dried shrimps

- cooking oil

- light soy sauce for taste

Directions :

1) Heat up the cooking oil in a frying pan and add in the dried shrimps. Lightly fry the dried shrimps till fragrant.

2) Add in the cucumber strips and mix well with the dried shrimps, for about 2-3 minutes. Pour in a little water and cover the pan to let the cucmber cook itself.

3) When steam starts to escape, remove the cover and add in some light soy sauce for taste. Mix well.

Baked pasta (1)

After a failed attempt at baked pasta quite some time back (coz everything became too dry), I decided to give it a try again after reading through some recipes. I also realised that it's important to have a mixture of cheeses when it comes to baked pasta. And I was so glad that everything turned out good this time, though the amount was a bit too much for the 2 of us. So, here is my own (successful) baked pasta recipe.

Ingredients :

- 250g of fusilli pasta
- 1 onion, cut into strips
- 4 shittake mushrooms
- 2 sausages (I used garlic pork sausages)
- about 370g of pasta sauce
- 1/4 cup of water
- shredded mozzarella and parmesan cheese, amount depends on how cheesy you like your pasta to be

Directions :

1) Preheat the oven to 150 degrees Celsius.

2) Bring a pot of slightly salted water to boil and cook the fusilli according to instructions on the box. It is good to overcook the pasta a little, maybe about 2-3 minutes so it will not be too tough after baking.

3) Add a bit of oil into the frying pan and cook the sausages for about 4 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside.

4) In the same pan, add in the onion and cook till it starts to soften and add in the mushrooms (I did it this way coz the mushrooms will get cooked faster than the onion). Return the sausage to the pan and stir to combine. Add in the fusilli, pasta sauce and water. Mix well. Remove from heat.

5) Using a glass baking dish, I spread out half of the pasta, followed by a mixture of the two cheeses, then cover it with the remaining pasta, and some more cheese on top.

6) Put into the oven and baked till the cheese on top turns slightly brown and bubbly.

Chicken stir-fry with red capsicum

As you can see, I've been bitten by the lazy bug and haven't been blogging for quite some time. So, it's not surprising that it has been a few weeks since I made this dish and only decided to post it now.

This is quite a simple dish and I made some changes from the original recipe coz I didn't want to buy a whole pack of peppercorns just for this. And also, you can use red, yellow or green capsicum for this, it's totally up to individual.

Chicken stir-fry with red capsicum

Ingredients :

- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 pack of chicken breast fillets, cut into strips (the pack I bought had 4 fillets in it)
- 1 onion, cut into wedges
- 1 red capsicum, cut into strips
- 2 tablespoons oyster sauce

Directions :

1) Heat the frying pan over high heat and add the oil. Add the chicken strips and stir-fry for about 3 minutes, or until browned.

2) Add the onion and capsicum and stir-fry for about 2 minutes, until the vegetables have softened slightly.

3) Reduce the heat and stir in the oyster sauce.

One-month old Natalie

In a pretty pink outfit bought by the her Papa

A few unexpected times when her eyes were opened this big


Relaxing on Mama's thighs... is the hairstyle stylo or what...


with great-grandmother

with grandpa

with grandma

and the first boy (the husband's nephew) to ever hug her

The Buns

Happy children's day... to me...

People often said childhood is the one of the best time in a lifetime, and I have to agree. Ok, maybe minus the studying, homework and exams, other than that, there is nothing much to worry about as kids. And I have to admit that my sisters and I were very lucky and blessed to have a fun and memorable childhood...

- When we were very young, my sister who was 3 years younger than I am, was still learning to walk, I would, once in a while, felt impulsive and just snatched her hand over and bit her fingers. Then, I would warn her not to tell anybody.

- As both my parents were working, I spent most of my times with my grandparents. My grandfather would play masak-masak with me all the time, and brought me to drink Milo at a coffeeshop, where he would poured it onto the plastic saucer to cool, while we waited for my grandma to do marketing.

- When I was in Primary 1, my form teacher made us line up according to our register numbers and I was paired up with this very fat and disgustingly dirty boy with sweaty palms. To further scar my young innocent life, the teacher made it compulsory that we had to hold hands whenever we lined up to go out as a class.

- My sister and I would try to finish up our Chinese writing homework as fast as possible because our father, being a Chinese teacher, is very strict when it comes to our Chinese character writing. More often than not, he would find our writings not to his liking, took up an eraser and clear the whole page that we had spent the past 30 minutes writing, and made us re-write all over again.

- One day, I forgot to bring my English writing book and the teacher made me call home to get my Grandma to bring it to school. I tried my very best to describe the cover of the book to her, and in then end, she arrived in school with my Math workbook.

- My mother used to cut our hair, up till our secondary school days. There was once (when I was about 7 or 8) when my mother accidentally cut my ear. I didn't feel anything until drops of blood dripped onto a magazine I was reading.



- I was one of the last few to finish a Math test. My classmates were all handing up the papers and leaving the classroom. In the end, I managed to finish the story sums while trying to prevent my tears and snot from dripping onto the test paper.

- My father used to pick me up from school after lessons everyday and most of the times, I was the last to leave (right before the school attendant) because he was always late. So, one day, I felt rebellious (I was having a cough then) enough to buy an ice-cream and was confident that I would finish it before he arrived. He was unexpectedly early on that day.

- We used to stay in Bedok North, right opposite a stadium. One day, I followed my older cousins to the stadium and while they were playing on the tracks, I found myself wondering if my tiny head could fit through the gaps between the railings. And the next thing I knew, I was crying while my father and cousins tried to pull out my head which was stuck between the railings.

So, here's to a happy 1st October to all of us... especially to the child that is living in our hearts.

Again, Natalie!

Things have been slowing down considerably these few weeks, or maybe that's just an excuse for the lack of postings for September. ;p But whatever it is, there will always be updates of little Natalie! :)

Welcome, Natalie.

Forgive me if I can't stop talking about the latest addition to the family, Natalie. I've updated my facebook status 3 times since she came in on 16th Sept 2009. Such is the excitement of being an aunt (大姨妈) . With little Natalie's arrival, everyone in the family got "promoted" to a new "position".

And here is the proud grandma...

Back to Mama-ville

The husband has been called up by the country to do his duty to protect and serve for 2 weeks in Thailand. So, I've moved back to my Mum's place to stay while he was away, since it just takes about 20 minutes from here to reach my workplace compared to our place which will take about an hour or so. And another reason is becoz I'm a scaredy cat, I admit. My imagination is too wild for my own good, especially if I'm alone at home at night, and moreover, it's the Chinese Lunar 7th Month now as well. I think sometimes my mind is out to torture me. When I'm alone without anybody around to distract or entertain me, those past horror movies I had watched will suddenly start to go through my mind. I tried to think of better stuff, but the evil side of me wins most of the time. I think if I were to write a horror story, I might be even more famous than Stephen King.

Anyway, it's kind of nostalgic to be back staying at my parents' place, and especially with my sister and I making a hell of a noise, and according to my mother, which each and everyone of our neighbours can hear. ;p Also, there are some things that had been lying around forever, and some that had been used as decorations for my marriage about 4 years ago and are still there. Needless to say, I think about 40% of my stuff are still stuck in the messy corner of our study room and my father had been nagging at me to bring them all back to my own place but I always pretended not to hear it. Haha.

And look what I managed to dig out from my old drawers...

Used to be something Yun and I were dying to have when we were young coz apparently, it was too expensive ($6.90, I think) for us to afford about 20 years ago

The furry (expensive) stickers


A much cheaper sticker book. I keep all the ugly stickers in here coz once you stuck them in, they are stuck there forever.

My Nokia 8250, Western Bar game belonging to the husband, some friendship bands I made, and a packet of tissue paper with such cute packaging that I can't bear to use since the husband gave me during our Poly days.

Birthday present from the husband when making paper stars were all the rage.

One of my favourite piece of work done during my time in the Art Club during the secondary school days.

Incident for thought (5)

Just something to think about : some time into the future, when you are old and wrinkly and is officially a senior citizen, and happen to hop onto a train with no vacant seats, would you stand right in front of the youngster who is occupying the "Reserved Seating" for the needy and proceed to try to stare him/her down for the rest of the journey?

Or maybe I was thinking too much, maybe the old woman just find the youngster handsome to look at.

And the all-in-one award goes to...

People often asked me why I didn't want to be a teacher, after having gone through contract teaching for almost 6 months, is currently working in a school (but not a teacher), and giving tuition for the past 10 years. And my answer to them is always the same : the times have changed, and so, the role of the teacher has also changed. With both my parents being teachers, it's not difficult for me to see the change as the years went by.

When I was younger, I remembered that my parents would reach home almost about the same time I did from school most of the days. My father still had time to check through my 习字本子 (a book to practice writing chinese characters) and would erase off one whole page that I had just completed coz he thought the characters were badly written. My mother had time to go through my Math homework as well, and sometimes, there were still work from the assessment books.

Back in those days, to be a teacher is to just teach, as what we all thought it should be. But for the past few years, though my mother (now retired) was teaching in the morning session and classes should end about 1 p.m., she would not reach home until after 6 p.m. most of the days. This was one significant change I noticed as the years went by in the teaching world. Teachers have more and more things to do and to take care of. And with the introduction of school rankings and other such things, teachers have even more work to do instead of just concentrating on teaching. I know that to improve, there must be competition. But this also brings out a lot of other problems for the schools, teachers, and even students. Problems that only those working in the sector will know. Problems that the highest of the highest authority will never understand.

Besides school rankings, there are still other awards for CCAs, SYF (Singapore Youth Festival) awards, etc, for the schools to compete among themselves. And when the students take part in such competitions, teachers are the ones who will be 'sacrificed'. Of coz the students will have to endure part of the stress and having to miss lessons. But I personally feel that teachers got the most of it. The teacher-in-charge has to find time to train the students, be around if there are external trainers, make sure the students work hard enough to win. If the school wins gold this year, the expectation is there for the teacher to win gold again the next year, the following year, and so on.

And then there is the competition for best class performance inside the school itself. Again, the stress is on the teachers. Besides worrying for the class, there is still the teacher's work performance review, promotion exercise, etc. So, for those people who do not work in schools, do not think that there is no office politics in school. There are much more going around than you can imagine.

One of the most important thing, is the change in the behaviour of the students. I believe that the streaming of the students is one of the causes of such behaviours. And also, the mindset of the teachers for the different streams of students. Do not think that all students in the special/express streams are angels, and that all students in the normal technical streams are devils. The special/express students can be good-mannered and smart, but they can also be scheming and shrewd in the bid to compete to be a top student. The normal technical students can be irritating and rude, but they are street-smart and can be really nice, with no hidden agenda or whatsoever.

And I believe that it's even worse when it comes to dealing with the parents. Kids nowadays are like princes and princesses at home. Whatever they go home telling their parents about the school, the teachers, the classmates, they will always believe that their precious babies are right, and the whole world is in the wrong. They will never believe that their precious babies will lie to them, and when they are being punished in school, these parents will demand to know the who, why, how, and still think their precious babies could do no wrong. I've even heard of cases of parents helping their children to cover their lies.

Which is why some people who did a mid-career switch to teaching get a shock when they start teaching proper. I strongly believe that nobody in the 'outside world' will ever understand how tough it is to be a teacher. The definition of a teacher had changed much over the years. Honestly, if I had a choice 20-30 years ago, I'll definitely choose teaching. Coz a teacher at that time is a 100% teacher. Nowadays, a teacher is more like 30% teacher, 30% administrator, 10% organiser (CNY celebration, Teachers' Day celebration, Sports Day, etc), 10% student (to clock the number of training hours needed), 10% counsellor, and 10% miscellaneous worker.

So, to all teachers out there, hang in there! Have a happy teachers' day. You all have my utmost respect.

The key to 21st

I can't believe I had forgotten to post about Piglet. Yes, the baby of the family had turned 21 on the 8th of August. It made me feel old just thinking about it, or maybe it was because my own 21st birthday was a decade ago. So, due to this age gap, Yun (3 years younger than me) and I practically watch her grow up.

I know this is going to sound kind of silly, but when the birthday song was sang last weekend, there was a mixture of emotions for me. Of course I'm happy that she is finally 21, and all grown up. But there was also this tiny sense of loss... which I don't know how to explain it. I wondered if this was what Papa and Mama felt as they looked as us celebrating our 21st birthdays, and then getting married.

And since this is a very special year for her, I won't be digging out any silly-looking photos of hers like what I did last year. Luckily I was in the mood a while back to scan in some old photos, and looks like they have come in handy...

So, once again, happy 21st, piglet. May this new journey of yours be filled with love, laughter, fun, and good health.

"Sisters don't need words. They have perfected a language of snarls and smiles and frowns and winks - expressions of shocked surprise and incredulity and disbelief. Sniffs and snorts and gasps and sighs - that can undermine any tale you're telling."

~Pam Brown

To the cinema : Up

Before I start to talk about this movie, I want you to meet the latest love of my life...
(click here and here to see him in action - can't decide which one I like more so decided to put both)


Isn't he adorable??!! I can't think of any other animated film character who is as adorable and huggable as Russell here. Also, the boy who voiced him did a wonderful job.


Ok, now, back to the movie. And I got to say that this had to be the best animated film I've seen so far. I thought it was good because it touched on 2 extreme areas.


Fantasy : By tying thousands and thousands of balloons to a house and making it fly.
I felt that it somehow brought out the child in every adult, made us recall the impossible and childish dreams that we used to have when we were young.


Reality (1) : The story of Carl and Ellie.
Their dreams of adventure when they were young, when they grew up, fell in love, and got married. And then there was the part when they realised that they could not have any children, they still stood by each other and made the most of everyday. I think this was the first animated film that made me teared up more than once. The first time was when Ellie died, the second time was when the bad guy tried to burn down the house and Carl was torn between saving the house or the bird, and the third time was when Carl was looking through the adventure book and found that Ellie had put their photos in it.


Reality(2) : There was no happy family for little boy Russell.
Most animated films would have a happy family, with the father, mother, brothers and sisters and maybe a pet dog or two. However, for Russell, his parents were separated and no, there was no happy ending where the father comes back to the family.


Despite it being an animated film, I think this is much more suited for adults than children. There were so many areas in the film that sets me thinking about my own life, and how I could really relate to some of it. This is definitely one of those movie that everyone should watch it at least once.

To the cinema : G.I. Joe

A quick search through Wikipedia tells me that, G.I. = Government Issue, therefore, G.I. Joe = Government Issue ... Joe? Why Joe??

Ok, that is not important.

The important thing is, with a movie like that, where all the characters are all acting cool and super smart and almost Superman-like, why are there NO cute guys???!!!!!

And the more I thought of it, the more I felt that the movie somehow resembled Transformers in some way, and so the husband mentioned it too. To me, it was also a mess of fight scenes, except in this movie, there were real people using sophisticated and a little unreal technologies and equipment. And honestly, there is really nothing else that stands out in the movie. Somehow, not even the ending builds up any anticipation for part 2. I'll patiently wait for the DVD release.

The only interesting thing about the movie is, with the use of such high-end technologies, it makes me wonder if some of it are not already being developed. I could use that invisible suit if there is one to spare.

Da Vinci Exhibition

We finally found time to visit the Da Vinci exhibition at the Singapore Science Centre, with one more week to go before it ends. Though the $15 entrance fee, in my opinion, was a little on the steep side, the experience was a good one. I would recommend a trip down to the Science Centre soon (exhibition ends 16th Aug 2009) coz this is something that is not to be missed.

I have to admit that I don't know much about Da Vinci, other than him drawing Mona Lisa, The Last Supper and the Vitruvian Man, and whatever I had learnt from reading The Da Vinci Code novel. So what made me want to go to this exhibition? I might sound like an idiot here, but honestly, when I first heard about this, I thought it would be like an art exhibition, showcasing all his paintings. However, thanks to the power of advertisements, it made me realised that there were much more than paintings to Da Vinci.

I was really surprised by the things that he invented, and the husband was just as impressed. Da Vinci's inventions didn't just focused on one particular area, instead, many of the things on show were widely spread and somehow related to our daily lives. Like the pulley system, the hang glider, a parachute, a bicycle, a very big and bulky odometer, the flippers and the diving suit, weapons and machines for war, and even the skiing equipment used today were an idea from him, though Da Vinci's initial idea was to be able to walk on water instead of ice. No wonder he was called a genius. Click here to see more of this inventions.

The only disappointing thing about the exhibition was that no photography was allowed.

Note : Discovery channel is coming up with a show : Doing DaVinci, where a team of expert builders will try to construct these unique inventions using only materials available in da Vinci's own time.