Have FUN At The FAIR

I have been quite busy lately, and I was neglecting my children. I can feel it by their responsiveness when I talk to them. But I didn’t know what to do, it is men’s weakness, we are made to be less sensitive and reactive to such situation. Luckily my wife have the solution (she’s the patch to my weakness), she suggested a walk at the fun fair.

I can still remember the joy I have when my dad brought me to one, when I was much younger. That’s always one rule to follow, we are not allow to play any “dee kam” (game). His explanation was pretty simple, the game is the first step to the gambling world, so it is to prevent us from cultivating the risk taking habit in our life.

Now that I am a father, I too avoided most of the game unless with close guidance. But these days, the focuses of the fun fair are mostly on necessities and foods. This is the first time I actually tried the fried ice-cream (炸雪糕), price is on the high side in my opinion, but nevertheless, I got two for the two elder girls. The taste is rather interesting, the girls enjoy it anyway.



One store I wish to mentioned, I previously tried this one store selling Teochew meat puff (潮州香饼). As far as I know, it is the only one in singapore, maybe JB and Batam too. I like particularly the one with oyster, definitely worth chewing on.



Then, there were the fun rides, and my wife lures them into take up a new challenge, the Viking (海盗船). My two elder girls enjoy the ride but the youngest one was too afraid and has to drop out half way. But I am delighted that they have the ride, because I had my first Viking ride after the age of twenty. The evening has at least eased the tension I have build up in the pass few days, and I slept well that night.

Harvest Moon

The Mid-Autumn festival falls on the fifteen day of the eighth lunar month, which according to the lunar calendar is also the exact middle of autumn. At this time, the moon's orbit is at its lowest angle to the horizon, making the moon appear brighter and larger than any other time of the year. In the Western tradition, it is also called the Hunter's Moon or Harvest Moon.

But today is also my in-law’s birthday. It is going to be a busy night though. I will have to attend the dinner, and then hopefully I will still have a bit of time to bring my kids for a walk. My wife have brought three lanterns for the kids a week ago, the two elder daughters got the traditional ones that uses candle to light up. I can remember that when I was much younger, this is a good time to play with fire, under the consent of my parent, I never fail to expend each of my lanterns.

According to a widespread folk tale, the Mid-Autumn Festival commemorates an uprising in China against the Mongol rulers of the Yuan Dynasty. As group gatherings were banned, it was impossible to make plans for a rebellion. Noting that the Mongols did not eat mooncakes, the advisor to the Chinese rebel leader Zhu Yuanzhang, came up with the idea of timing the rebellion to coincide with the Mid-Autumn Festival. He sought permission to distribute thousands of moon cakes to the Chinese residents in the city to bless the longevity of the Mongol emperor. Inside each cake, however, was inserted a piece of paper with the message: "Kill the Tatars on the 15th day of the Eighth Moon." (八月十五殺韃子) On the night of the Moon Festival, the rebels successfully attacked and overthrew the government. What followed was the establishment of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), under Zhu. Henceforth, the Mid-Autumn Festival was celebrated with moon cakes on a national level.

中秋佳节

Mid-Autumn Festival is only less than a week away, my earlier order for two boxes of mooncake have been delivered, there were meant to be a gift for my mother and In-laws.



When I send a box to my mum’s place, she immediately cut out one for us to try. So far I have also tasted some from Goodwood Park and KLT 錦綸泰 in my office, comparing the price of this 大中国月饼 with many others, it is actually cheap and good.

The box is a very simple one unlike the rest which explain the price. At below twenty five dollar per box for the double yolk type, it tasted better than many selling above thirty, or even forty dollar. Anyway, this is one popular shop that is responsible for one of the long lines in chinatown year after year, and they has never disappoint me so far.

A Final Episode

I don’t see my grandmother often, in fact not even a dozen times, and though I wasn’t very close to her, still it is a painful loss. The wake lasted for seven days in Batam. I was there only on sixth day due to my work commitment. It is been years since I last went, I realize only when I saw the age prints on the faces of my aunties and uncles. I couldn’t recognize them all, but they were happy to see me. They just hold my hand and smile and I can feel the closeness of our heart, the bond of our blood.





I could see from far the lantern were red signifying longevity. The Chinese believes that if one hit the age of seventy, or has five generations under them, then one is consider to have enjoyed longevity and the death is not a sad event. The setup was more or less similar what we have in Singapore. Unlike here, there are some restrictions to be followed very strictly, one of which is all forms of gambling activities are not allowed, this included manjong or card games which the authorities in Singapore would not enforce most of the time, so we could only spend the night chatting or sleeping.

After midnight, it was consider the seventh day, everyone have to kneel around coffin to wake the decease up for a shower, change to her new cloths and take her meal, we then burned the paper house, car and money for her to bring along before she move on to her afterlife.

The next day which was the last day, I found out that Band is also in the restriction list. We went through the Buddhism ceremony, before the coffin is transfer to a van, a police petrol car would clear all traffic lights along the way and escort the convoy non stop from the funeral parlour to the crematorium.

I was told that the crematorium uses kerosene and not gas. After a short prayer, the coffin was send into the funnel. The memorial tablet was then brought back and setup in one of the uncle’s house. The ceremony is then considered as ended after we change into our daily clothes. In Buddhism, the living is supposed to let go the sorrow and move on as death is just part of life.






My aunty drove us to the jetty after a short rest, where we book the 5.30pm ferry to Singapore. It was full of people that were there for the “Batam one day tour”, we could see many tour guide holding the little flag, shouting all over the place. Thanks to the human traffic on this last day of the school holiday, our ferry was late for one hour. The sky was almost dark when the ferry left for Singapore, I took some photo with my K810i to kill my boredom along the way.





When the Rasa Sentosa Resort came in view, I know home is near, I am back in Singapore. Each time I attend a funeral, it keep reminds me how importance and precious life is, I must learn to treasure the times I have with my family even more.

GIANT's Birds

While shopping in Bukit Timah giant last weekend, my little girls were having fun running around, chasing after birds in the supermarket. This makes me remember when I was a kid, whenever bird lost their way and land in my house, my siblings would close all the windows, and tried to hunt it down. Birds have always been a fascinating animal to children, due to the fact that they can escape trouble by simply flipping their wings. Anyway, though the children enjoy marketing this time round, I certainly hope that it will not cause any kind of health issue here, I can still remember the impact of bird flu.

Hey, Botak! Are You JONES?

This is one botak that changes the face of western food in coffee shop here, the introduction of restaurant standard dining in coffee shops, at affordable price.



Years back when I was younger, steak in coffee shop would mean two pieces of meat grilled to medium or well done, served with baked beans and coleslaw. And it never filled my stomach enough to last a soccer game.



Then, things are different here, the foods are served in good portion, with side dish and the right sauces. You can complain about your steak not been medium rare, you can eat half your serving and ask the waiter to pack it for you to take away, without getting that funny look, without question from them.



They have been around for a while, with a good reputation on their food and services. It is quite amusing to see a hawker stall with business volume capable of sustaining more than ten staffs. My dad was a hawker, I know how difficult it is to achieve that. Anyway, though they may not be serving the best food around, but I must say that it is more than value for money, and so far, I really enjoy the food.

Farewell Dinner

Had dinner at River City Restaurant last evening, another colleague is leaving again. The restaurant is located in Excelsior Hotel along Coleman Street, and it come under the umbrella of the Starling Group of Restaurants. Parking and transportation in this location is not an issue at all.





As there were more than fifteen of us, we go for the “Eat all you can” alaka buffet. The food was average, and I have no complain about the service. However, there are a few dishes that are worth the price tag. The restaurant was not very clouded for the evening, making the serving much faster than some Zhi Cha Stall in the hawker centre, and more comfortable too.

Indian Roti

I was dragging my feet home last evening, exhausted due to previous late night, then my wife release a bad news to me. Oh, it is not really a bad news, she has promised my girls a satay treat for supper. Well, a promise is a promise, anyway, I hate to disappointment my girls unless necessary.



Satay Club would be a good choice, it is a pity I don’t know where it moved to when Sembawang Shopping Centre is demolished. So the next on my list, only about fifty meters away from the Shopping Centre along Sembawang Road, D’Rubinah Restaurant, it is actually a coffee shop beside Mobil Station. Parking space in this area is limited, but driver have their way around.



I order only 20 sticks of Satay with one Naan, just enough to ease the crave for a family of five. The Satay stall hides at the back of the shop, which is the end of the alley, but the taste is good and the meat is tender as compared to many others. The Naan here is cooked in a Tandoor, and it comes in a few flavors, garlic, cheese, honey, etc. They also sell roti prata too. For taste above average with good variety of Indian and Malay food, this is the place.

Super Long Weekend

Last weekend was a super long one, not the long weekend that last for three or five days, but one that exhausted me more than other days. I completed a home project which I wanted to do three years ago, held back due to my busy schedule. I wanted to erect some racks in my storeroom and get my barang barang organized. I could not hold back the project any longer because I am starting to have problem closing the door.

I choose GORM system from IKEA, and went down last Monday to get the parts. In fact, I did the measurement and planned the rack configuration two months back, but IKEA did not have all the parts I needed. There are a few reasons why I like to buy their furniture. First, I get to shop at a big and nice place, a place you could find practically all your finishing needs and ideas. The prices are quite reasonable unless you are into quality of material. It gives me a sense of satisfaction when you look at the finished products. And finally, I get to do some hands on work as a form of exercise which I need.

It took me nearly eight hours to clear my storeroom, tear down the fixed shelving, clearing the debits, alter and assemble the racks. By the time I was ready for a shower before bed, it is already 2.30am. The next morning, I was surprised that we discard the unwanted stuffs and repack the storeroom in only four hours flat. Anyway, it was not time to rest, like I say earlier, it is a “long” weekend. I still need to bring my family out for grocery shopping and then dinner at Ah Mah house.

The Little Princess

This video clip was taken when she was one, and until today, my wife and I still enjoy watching it. Since young, she has been our most cheerful girl, she's the apple of our family. Then, time flies and ... ...



Today, she has grown up, still as cheerful, still the apple of our family, but a little spicy. She is attending school now and learning tons of new skills. And she would show off to us at home when she is in the right mood. She seems to be much easier to handle than my two older daughters, and sometime I would wonder if it is because of her easy-going character or due to the experience we had learn from her elder sisters. Anyway, the joy and satisfaction you get when your child hit her milestone is something words could not describe. All my three daughters are attending school, is it their achievement, or mine? Whichever way it is, I am proud of them.

猪, 我来了!

Lunch on Saturday is never an easy decision for me, there are simple too much good food around this vicinity. But since my colleagues have been talking about Bak Kut Teh for the last few days, we somehow did not give much thought about other food. This is one store I have not visit for a while, nothing wrong with the taste but rather the availability of choice we have, Eng Kee Bak Kut Teh (永记肉骨茶). The store is situated at Ang Mo Kio Street 32, Block 341, parking is a breeze in this area.



We practically order every single dish on the manual except the tea, these include the pork rib (肉骨), trotter (猪脚), intestines (粉肠), liver (猪肝), deep-fried breadstick (油条) and Stewed vegetables (菜尾). The trotter is one of the best I have tried so far, the tendons is soft enough to give you the "melt in the mouth" feeling and yet the meat is still tender at the same time, very good balance that very few hawker store could achieve. This time round, I also get to try the intestines, which was out of stock during my last three visits. My only disappointment would be the liver which is not rare enough. I have also notice that the price have went up too.