Midnight trip around Singapore

The school organised a night trip (31st Aug to 1st Sep) around Singapore as a part of celebration cum learning journey for Teachers' Day this year. It was not compulsory but Dass and I decided to join after looking through the itinerary. The trip was supposed to start from 10:30 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. on the next morning, covering Clarke Quay, Chinatown, Fort Canning Park, Little India, Jurong Fishery Port and Changi Village. I was actually only looking forward to the trip at the Jurong Fishery Port.

Anyway, we were supposed to leave the school at 10:30 p.m. But somehow, the key personnel was late, 2 team leaders were even later, and we had to wait till they finished their briefing and when we left, it was about a little after 11 p.m.

If I remembered correctly, the following were the places we went, in sequence :

Chinatown - The bus just drove through the area and stopped outside the Thian Hock Keng temple and the Sri Mariamman temple while the tour guide explained the histories to us. We also went past the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple & Museum and the Armenian Church. Do you still remember what you had learnt in your Social Studies lessons about these local places of worship?

Singapore River - Looked at all the statues along the Singapore River while the tour guide did the explnations about each of them. Along the way, one teacher mentioned that she couldn't remember the last time she took such a leisurely stroll along the Singapore River. I had to agree with her. I guess most of us were so busy dividing our time between work and family that we couldn't find any to take another look around our little island.

Up till this point of time, I realised that although it sounded exciting to be out at night, with the advantage of the cooler weather and smaller crowds at places of interest, photography was a big problem. I didn't have any big and expensive professional camera with me, so I could only managed a few miserable attempts at the beautiful night scenes.

Anyway, the tour guide also took us on a walk through Clarke Quay, passing through all the pubs, and to have a look at Singapore's night life. There were so many different pubs and restaurants in Clarke Quay that a customer would be spoilt for choice.

Fort Canning Park - The bus stopped just outside the R.O.M. building and the tour guide asked if we would like to take a walk through the park or just have a slow drive past. Someone said to walk and got a protests of a few because of the supernatural stories of the place and also now being the lunar seventh month.

We got off the bus and started out a little cautiously, with repeated warnings to those with the cameras not to take any shots, in case of some "things" appearing in the photos. However, the cautiousness was short-lived. Some started snapping photos as the tour guide explained about the history of the park to us.

Lau Pa Sat - The time is about 1:30 a.m. when we stopped to have some supper. A few of the teachers were starting to resemble half-awake zombies. But most of us were looking forward to this break and majority took coffee and all had something to fill the tummies.

After that, Dass entertained us with his funny "Muthu" jokes on the way to Jurong. I managed to catch a power nap of about 15 to 20 minutes when Dass finally ran out of this jokes. Haha.

Jurong Fishery Port - I think this is one of the most looked-forward place of visit for most of us. We were all excited as we made our way through the security check-point of the fishery port. The security was tight as visitors had to exchanged their ICs for a pass.

The time was about 3:30 a.m. or so but the place was bustling with activity. As the place was for all seafood freshly caught from the sea, it didn't have much of a smell. It was a huge area and most of the workers were male. Some of them were catching up on sleep in their lorries parked outside the market area, some were unloading their fresh catch from their vehicles, and others were busy doing business with the other fishmongers from our neighbourhood wet markets.

As we walked through the narrow walkway, flanked on both sides by seafood wholesalers, we started to feel a little out of place. To the outsiders, it seemed like the place is noisy, messy and chaotic, but to the people working there, they are already used to it and all have their own rules and working sequences.

Maybe I was being over-sensitive. But somehow, I felt that the people working there didn't really like visitors in their midst. Many didn't even spare us a look, and for those who did, somehow gave us the "evil eye", like "What the hell are you all doing here?" kind of look. I guess it was because we were quite a big group, and as we walked along the narrow walkway, we were more of an obstacle to those who were pushing their trolleys of seafood from one end to the other end of the market. The people didn't bother with politeness. They just gave a shout to us to make way. Before we could properly stepped out of the way, they had already pushed their trolleys past us, not caring whether the trolley wheels barely missed our toes, or that the sides had knocked against our ankles. To them, time is everything. They need to get the seafood as fresh as they can be, so that they can make more money.

Anyway, this trip to the port made me realised that, while we were all comfortably tucked in bed dreaming away, these people are already up and working hard, to ensure we have a good supply of seafood on our tables the next day.

Mustafa Centre - Some more teachers were appearing to be in the half-asleep state as we made our way to Little India's Mustafa Centre. But a little game of teamwork made all of us wide-awake again.

Each team had to get as many things as possible, from two different departments in the Mustafa Centre, with a budget of $10 within 20 minutes. The team who gets the most number of items by maximising the budget in the shortest time, wins the game. Our team didn't win it, but we all had fun. After that, we all took a break and had the famous iced Milo with whipped cream at the Mustafa cafe.

Anyway, I was also surprised by the number of shoppers in Mustafa Centre at about 4:45 a.m. in the morning. There were at least a handful of shoppers at each level. And there were even more at the food section. As we took a leisure stroll after our iced Milo, I saw people shopping for electronics, groceries, and even buying watches. They can be couples, with friends, and even the whole family, with kids not older than 12.

I guess maybe these shoppers find it easier to shop at the wee hours so as to avoid the crowd, with the advantage of time to look through stuffs to buy. Or maybe they were tourists suffering from jetlag, and decided to spend time at this 24-hour shopping centre.

Changi Village - Our final stop for the trip. It was about 6 a.m. when we got there. This time, no more "Muthu" jokes during the journey. Everyone tried to grab some sleep. And surprisingly, I was feeling quite refreshed after the short nap. I didn't expect to be feeling awake after a night of touring around Singapore. But I did.

Anyway, we made our way to the Changi Village food centre for breakfast. Some ate heartily while others were still feeling the aftermath from the cup of iced Milo at Mustafa cafe. Then it was the viewing of sun rise at the beach. However, the sky had already brightened up by the time we made our way to the beach.

I managed to catch a few photos of the early morning sky, with the light from the Sun, but with the Moon still hanging around.

Afterthoughts on the trip : This was an interesting and unique trip. Besides getting to see some of Singapore's places of interest under the night sky, it also let us see what was happening on the streets in the wee hours. It reminded me that it had been a long long time since I had the leisure of going on an excursion, and to act like a tourist in our own homeland. However, not many photographs could be taken under the moonlight, and most of the places of interest we visited were closed. I would like a tour in the temples and churches, rather than to sit in the bus and stared out at the closed doors while the tour guide went on and on about the histories of the places.

Easy-to-make chocolate truffles

Decided to try my hand at the easy chocolate truffles again. Since tuition had been changed from Thursday to Friday, might as well go home after work and do something "productive". Heh.

Anyway, forgot what was the brand of chocolate-coated biscuits I bought last time. But this time, I bought Tim Tam chocolate-coated biscuits. It turned out that the amount of crushed biscuits this time was much more than the previous one, which meant that the "balls" didn't taste as cheesy as it did the last time.

So, my "guinea pigs" for this round felt that these "balls" tasted good! Yeah! Sam was my biggest supporter so far... automatically requested for the rest of the "balls" that I had brought to school. :)

Even my auntie, Huiqi and Kenny who don't like cheese, didn't realised that they contained cheese at all!

Easy Chocolate Biscuit Truffles (from : Nigella)

Ingredients :
- 2 pkts of your favourite chocolate coated biscuits
- 250gm pkt of philidelphia cream cheese
- coconut, chocolate sprinkles, or crushed nuts to roll them in

Directions :
1. Process the biscuits into fine crumbs in your food processor. Add in the cream cheese and whizz together till well combined. Chill in the fridge for a short while.

2. Take teaspoons of mix and roll into balls, then roll in coconut, chocolate sprinkles or crushed nuts. Store either in the fridge or in the freezer.

A night of lace & leather

So, finally, the Teachers' Day dinner is over. The lace and leather theme dinner I was talking about? Yes. It was all over. And here is the review of the night.

There were two things that took me by surprise.

One, I thought the female teachers would be all decked out in pretty lacy outfits, dresses. But surprisingly, majority just donned a lace top and completed it with jeans or pants, which made me felt a little too overdressed. Some of them kept to the leather theme instead, but I must say, they did look good!

Two, the male teachers were the ones who made the effort to dress up... the "John Travolta" from Grease, Phantom of the Opera (yes, the Phantom.. complete with the mask), a red Indian, and a Gladiator.

Oh, and not forgetting to annouce. After being to so many functions with lucky draws, I finally won something on Friday!! Yeah! The 75th prize, out of the 82 prizes available. (Ray couldn't stop laughing as he opened the prize for me) As expected, not the uZap, iPod, or Nano as I was hoping for, but looking on the bright side, I did get lucky in the lucky draw and the prize at least, was useful. I saw some getting candle holders and bottles of bird's nest. Hmmm.

By the way, forgot to comment about the food. Well, if I've forgot to mention about food, it means that it was not impressive. Out of the 8 courses served, I only like the chicken. It was roasted chicken, with sesame seeds and fried shallots and some kind of sauce. The rest of the dishes were not worth mentioning at all. And as expected, I left Hyatt feeling only half-full. Ray went for a Burger King meal after that. Haha.

Anyway, the husband came to pick me up, with his colleague. We made our way to Geylang and bought the famous soy bean milk and you tiao home for supper. Yum!

Oreo cheesecake

Was feeling quite "motivated" yesterday after work, so decided to try my hand at the Oreo cheesecake (recipe courtesy of Skylar, my forum mate).

The making part was easy. The tedious part was to crush the biscuits. When I thought I had finally crushed quite evenly, a final "grope" around the crushed bits exposed some more big, chunky bits... which started the whole "crushing" process again.

Also, seems like I use a little too much Oreo bits for the cheese part till the cake looks brown, instead of the usual Oreo cheesecake with only little flecks of Oreo, with the cheese part still looking yellow.

Anyway, here is the final product...

Well, I have to say I was a little disappointed at how it turned out. Seems a little "flat", like not enough cheese. Also, haven't the chance to taste it yet. But brought half of it to school for my "guinea pigs". Wahahaha.

Oreo Cheesecake

Ingredients:

- Oreo cookies (I took out the cream part)
- 1 block of KRAFT Philadelphia cheese (leave it at room temperature for about 1 hour before using it)
- 75g unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons of condensed milk
- 1 tablespoon of lemon juice

Directions:

1.Crush Oreo biscuits (depending on how thick you want the crust to be)

2. Melt unsalted butter about 75g in a pan, then add Oreo biscuits in, stir till butter is all absorbed.

3. Lay this mixture into a pan tin and put it into the fridge for an hour.

4. Add the block of cheese, condensed milk, lemon juice and some oreo biscuits crumbs & start beating it till a smooth mixture is obtained.

5. Lay this mixture on the top of the crust earlier and leave it in the fridge for about 5 hrs.

6. Add top layers of Oreo biscuits as decor (optional) and put back into the fridge to leave it overnight.

Sleepless in Rivervale

I can't believe I haven't introduce my dear readers to my infamous neighbour. He has to be the most “popular” in our neighbourhood. The first time he made his “debut” was in the middle of the night. We were all sleeping soundly when I thought I heard a shout.

You know how your heart beat will suddenly pick up speed, and you get all nervous and wide awake, when totally unexpected, heard something in the dead silence of the night? That was what happened the first time I heard him. It was in the middle of the night when the shouting started. Moreover, our flats are built in such a way that the playground is in the middle with the blocks surrounding it. So whatever sounds made anywhere were bound to be bounced around and reflected to everyone of us.

I remembered that first time I heard him, he was so damn noisy that another guy from some other unit shouted back at him to shut up in Hokkien. Naturally, this neighbour was undeterred and shouted back. So hence began the shouting match for a few minutes. But somehow, the husband was still snoring away beside me. If only I was as sound a sleeper as he is.

So it began a series of shouting in Hokkien and Chinese during the middle of the nights. When it happened a second time, I woke the husband up. If I was not getting any sleep, he was not either. Anyway, I'm not sure what triggered off all the shoutings but somehow, they always happened during weekday nights when most of us had to work or study the next day. And it's worse when I'm a very light sleeper. However, when weekends come, there was not even a whisper from him.

The husband said most likely the shouting started becoz of quarrels in the house as we could hear a woman shouting sometimes too. There was one time when the man was shouting in Hokkien, "Help! Help! The mother is going to kill the son!" It was then followed by a series of door banging and things hitting against one another. That was one of the worst night.

The husband called the police that night. However, we didn't know if the police came or not. Actually we already know which unit is it, coz I saw the guy kicking and shouting during one weekend morning. But what exactly can the police do? I think they could only issue a warning or something, can't really arrest him, right?

Anyway, that week was one of the worst. During that one week, we heard him for about 3 to 4 nights. Once, he shouted to his neighbours upstairs to stop banging. Another time he challenged another neighbour to go look for him, and he even shouted out his unit number.

He was at it last night again, after a very long spell, about 1 or 2 months of absence. Maybe he wanted to remind us not to forget him. Anyway, some guy shouted back to call the police, then our dear neighbour challenged him to call, saying he was not afraid.

Really, what is going on in his mind? We would never know. Maybe he is a plain nutcase, or he has some serious anger management issues.

At times like these, I find myself wondering whether we are considered lucky or unlucky to get such a neighbour. I've heard other horror stories about neighbours throwing chicken rice or curry out of the window only to land on others' laundry. And also an auntie who buys fish from the market, and proceeded to gut it outside her flat and leave the intestines and other stuff along the corridor.

Bad PR skills

With a group of foreign visitors, with some slightly big-sized ones, crowding around a weighing machine, the very "gracious" host tried to create a light moment by asking, "So how is your weight? Have you all put on weight with all the local food?"

To the cinema : Rush Hour 3

Got to watch Rush Hour 3 for free yesterday (early in the morning at 9 a.m.) coz the boss managed to get free tickets from a friend who is a volunteer at the Aljunied CC Youth Club. It was supposed to be their biennal meeting, and they need 100 people so they can screen the movie. So the ICT team and Amalina were the lucky few who got the free tickets. Heh.

Anyway, about the movie, I personally feel that it was nothing spectacular. The "wow" factor when it first came out as "Rush Hour" was gone. Though it was still funny, thanks to Chris Tucker, the storyline was a little boring and too expected. Not enough action for me, in terms of a Jackie Chan movie. The attempt at humour seemed to overshadow the actual plot. Also, the bad guy died too soon.

The whole movie lasted for about 1 hr 20 mins or so. But I felt that out of the 80 mins, about half the time was spent on humour. Not that it was not funny, but it was a little too much for me. I can't imagine how Rush Hour 4 will be like, if there is going to be any. Might as well categorised it as a comedy the next round.

But if you are really into Rush Hour, please don't let my comments stop you from watching it. These are just my personal thoughts. Maybe you will like the movie. :)

Minestrone Soup

Since it's a public holiday today, decided to do a little cooking. Came across a minestrone soup recipe and gave it a try. Not much cooking needed, but a lot of preparations were required. I used potatoes, carrots, onions, celery, tomatoes and cauliflower. There is no actual need to follow the exact ingredients of the recipe as this minestrone is all vegetables. So can basically add what you like into it. Like I said, preparation time was long as all the vegetables need to be cut into cubes. Took me about 1 hour or so to complete everything and leave the soup to boil and simmer for another hour.

Anyway, it so happened that Chris and BT came by this afternoon for a mahjong session, so luckily the recipe is for 6, and we had the soup for dinner, together with some toasted focaccia bread, and some of Chris' mum's very delicious fried noodles.

Will try this again, with some more other vegetables. It will make a simple and healthy meal. Can cook a big pot to keep for the next day too.

Minestrone Soup (from : allrecipes)

6 servings

Ingredients:
- 4 tablespoons margarine
- 3/4 cup chopped onion
- 1/4 cup chopped celery
- 1/2 cup chopped carrots
- 1 (19 ounce) can cannellini beans
- 1/2 cup shredded cabbage
- 1 (14.5 ounce) can stewed tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 1/2 cups cubed potatoes
- 1 quart chicken broth
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons dried parsley
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup elbow macaroni
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Melt butter or margarine in a heavy pot over medium heat. Add onion, celery, and carrots; saute for a few minutes.

2. Add beans, cabbage, tomatoes, tomato paste, potato, stock, garlic, parsley, and salt to the pot. Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce heat. Simmer for approximately 1 hour until vegetables are barely tender.

3. Add pasta, and simmer for 30 minutes more. Correct seasoning, and serve hot with grated cheese.

Happy Birthday, Piglet!

The baby of the family turns 19 today. Yes, for those number freaks... her birth-date is 8th August 1988. Fortunately (or not), came into this world exactly 10 years after I did. And this post is in green, becoz that's her favourite colour.

She's both a joy and nuisance to have around the house. Ask Yun. Haha. Cute as a button when little... but the cuteness wore off along the way. And in came a crazy girl... loud & noisy... laughing at all things, and doing all the stupid stuff one could ever think of.

But luckily, there is still some teeny little lick of sense and practicality under all those madness. Of all the family members, she's the one who is a real animal lover. Even signed up for SPCA membership a while back, and swore off eating sharks' fin soup. But she's still not to the extreme to being a vegetarian. She can't be. She won't survive a day without meat.

She protects those that are endangered, love those that are cute, and hate those that are six and eight-legged. Heh.

Germs, virus... all go away!

After the episode of stomach viral infection, the flu bug came close behind. Everything was still fine on Wednesday morning when I went back to work. Then in the afternoon, the nose started to run like crazy. I could feel the "cottony" feeling of a stuffed nose. Damn. Am I that unlucky or what?

And so it goes on for a few days... and I wiped my nose till I had almost lost all feeling of it... also killing a lot of trees in the process.

Anyway, this damn runny nose made me missed the BBQ food for Huiqi's 21st birthday party, and the very nice creamy chocolate cake as well. Sigh. I can't wait to get much better. I guess I'll start to stuff myself once all these is over. Chicken rice, hor fan, chee cheong fan, junk food, pizza, chocolate, coffee, and of course, Mama's delicious dishes.

Also, the husband got all worried and decided that we should have some kind of exercise during the weekends after I got better. So, we started yesterday by going to Punggol Park after Sunday brunch. It was not much of an exercise coz I was not any better. So we just took a walk through the park, be a little romantic, sat at the pond side and read the papers.

Then, went to the chinese sinseh in the afternoon for another session of acupuncture. My tummy was much better after I went for one session a few days back. And now becoz of my runny nose, I was back again for another session. I was really "poked" from my head to toes in a space of 4 days. I got 10 needles on my tummy and legs and toes on Wednesday, and I got 11 needles on my forehead, back of my neck, sides of my nose and arms, yesterday.

So now, back to work... nose is working normally. But was coughing like mad last night. Damn!

When can I ever start to eat proper food??! Somebody save me from porridge and soupy food!!!!