rojak rendezvous

Experience a moving masterpiece

2011-12-26T16:38:00.008+08:00

I'm embarrassed to admit that I have not heard of what is otherwise known as the Mona Lisa of China - the legendary Qing Ming Shang He Tu. Shame on me especially since I can rattle off dozens of Western paintings & artists.

Over Christmas eve dinner, my brother raved about this exhibition & so we decided to check it out on Chrsitmas & I am so glad we did. It was really an amazing experience.

Qing Ming Shang He Tu (translated : Along the river during the Qing Ming Festival) was painted during the Song Dynasty some 900 years ago by Zhang Zhe Duan. It is a panoramic scroll painting of 5 metres & what makes this special are the details - a record of everyday life at that time - merchants, artisans, wine shops, camels, horses, sedan chairs, story teller, doctor, children.

For the World Expo 2010 Shanghai, the painting was digitally re-created with animation into what is known as "Moving Masterpiece" & making it the star attraction at the China Pavilion. The installation, 30 times bigger than the original, really has to be experienced. It's now in Singapore - after making its rounds to Taiwan & Macau.

The exhibition is divided into Pre-Show Hall - water, fire, earth, wood etc - gives visitors a background to life during the Song Dynasty - the commerce, the scholarly pursuits, urban & country lifestyle. Be sure to get an audio guide (part of the entrance fee).

Description of the Boat Men

Entertainment

Ingots

Given that the painting is a National Treasury & insurance would have run into millions, the original is still in the Palace Museum in Beijing. This is the Stone Gate from the "Golden Scroll" copy.

Wholesale wine shop

Next stop, main hall. I was in awe - WOW the painting came alive. You could hear the sounds of the boat men, the characters moving around, the laugher of the children as they run around.....I was instantly drawn to the size of it. What is also amazing is the fact that they did both a day as well as a night scene.

Day Scene

Night Scene

The rainbow bridge

scene where a boat almost capsized

As with all Chinese scripts, you work from the right to left. The painting starts with the quiet countryside of willow trees, cottages, village & small boats. Moving along to the busy outskirts & then to the capital of Kaifeng.

I was so mesmerised. I stood at each section looking at both the day & night scenes.

The audio guide is excellent in drawing your attention to the details.

Follow the camel procession

The majestic city gate

The city well & the pharmacist

The horse drawn carriage

The bustling wine shop

Awesome

Magical

Once in a lifetime experience

A taste of middle eastern

2011-11-07T09:08:00.004+08:00

Admittedly I don't know Middle Eastern cuisine well but X is a big fan. So when we found ourselves wondering around RWS looking for a place to eat, he was immediately drawn to Anar. The belly dancing, I'm sure helped pique his interest too but unfortunately we were too early. I believe it starts from 8pm.

Once inside, you feel immediately transported into the movie set of the Arabian Nights.

A complimentary starter of feta cheese

with a complimentary serving of pita bread

(they charge $2.50 for additional serving which I thought was unnecessary considering the restaurant but that was my only complaint of the evening, everything else - the food & service is excellent)

Moutabbal

X wanted to order this favorite Baba Ghanosh but the server highly recommended this instead. Also an eggplant dip. Excellent. We were happily dunking our bread in this

Hummus with minced beef

My favorite. Hummus is a chickpea puree perfectly complemented with bits of beef

Chicken livers - this was delicious.

All the starters appealed to us so we ordered 3.

Word of warning tho : the dips are rich & can fill you up especially if you eat with a lot of bread

Grilled Lamb Chops & Beef Medallions

Tasty & cooked just right but we still preferred the starters

A shot of their beautiful restroom

Will we return ? Absolutely !

Buddha Tooth Temple

2011-11-03T08:15:00.002+08:00

I must have passed by the Buddha Tooth Temple in Chinatown dozens of times yet last month was the first time I ventured inside. I followed a group of tourists so we won't be the only ones gawking & there were lots to *gawk* at.

The entrance facing South Bridge Road is called the Mountain Gate. See the pair of the dragon ornament on the roof top of the gate, cast by a Japanese. I know this because these are all explained in their very well designed website - by way of which I realised that there is a museum that we missed. Note to revisit.

They provide shawls for cover up in case you are not appropriately dressed. No shorts, miniskirts or revealing tops.

Even though I'm not of any particular faith, I'm always in awe of religious & spiritual places. This was no exception. The interior is opulent, to say the least.

The temple was completed at a cost of $75mio. These zodiac protectors are available for sponsorship. The website gives an extensive list of items that you can choose to sponsor - from floor tiles to ceiling boards, prayer wheels to lanterns.

The hall is pretty amazing.

We spent a lot of time taking it all in.

Prayers were starting

& it was time for us to leave

If you ever find yourself with some time to kill near Chinatown,

you know where you can go

Sentosa Boardwalk Day & Night

2011-11-02T09:17:00.000+08:00

When we went to RWS for the Lion Dance Competition, we decided to use the new Boardwalk. Another excuse for the Girl to bring out her scooter. There are signs within Vivocity with directions.

You could walk or....

....use the travellator

There are also restaurants which we didn't have time to check out

since we didn't want to miss the show nor be exposed to the hot sun

It was a very hot day so we kept close to the covered walkway

It is very pretty

It was much more pleasant walking at night when it was cooler

& to see it all lighted up

See what I mean about the lights

Noting this down for future reference when we want to eat around that area

RWS Lion Dance Championship

2011-11-01T09:40:00.000+08:00

Sometimes browsing sistic could bring surprising & unexpected results. Here is one of them. I found myself drawn to & hence purchasing tickets for the RWS International Lion Dance Competition. The blurb says the event will showcase internationally renowned lion dance troupes. Hey why not right ?

Every year without fail when we were kids, my father, being the businessman that he was, would invite a lion dance troupe to our house to perform & to do the Cai Qing (translated to mean plucking the green). A Chinese belief that it will help the business do well. I love to watch Lion Dance & nowadays apart from Chinese New Year & the occasional shop opening, it's hard to see them in action.

There were 2 days of competition. Semi finals on one day & finals on the other. I figured I'll get tickets for the finals & see the best in action. From 15 groups (not exactly international, they came from China, Macau, Taiwan & even one from Australia), it was down to final 8.

Being the novice that we were, we didn't exactly choose the right seats - it was free seating. We were looking at the performance from this angle as you can see from the above picture. The problem is that you actually don't see how wide the poles go nor how far apart they are. It was only when we view from the big screen that we could see the difference & appreciate the difficulties in doing stunts on them.

This was one of the Singapore lions that unfortunately fell midway through the performance. But they gamely picked themselves up & continued but needless to say had points deducted for the misstep.

By the time we left, this Taiwanese lion was leading the pack. Yup we left at break time cos the noise was getting too much for the Girl & since we weren't supporting any particular group (apart from Singapore), after watching 4 groups perform, that was enough.

It was an interesting experience - quite unlike our usual shows at the Esplanade.

We've been busy watching rugby

2011-10-30T07:53:00.003+08:00

X was of course supporting Les Bleus

Me I was quietly for the All Blacks

Moon cakes

2011-10-29T08:01:00.001+08:00

I am so behind on my blog posts if I'm talking about mooncakes in October ! Oops

When it comes to moon cakes, I prefer them traditional. None of those fancy varieties that are everywhere. I get a headache just looking at them. If you are into those, where do you even start ?

This year I didn't buy ours from Tai Chong Kok but as you can see, their Chinatown branch was doing a roaring business.

I bought from Tai Tong & instead of my usual 2 egg yolks, decided to go for the extreme cholesterol experience of 4 egg yolks

Look at these babies

The first moon cake of the year/season is always the best.

Then diminishing return sets in.

There is one exception tho

Snow skin moon cake with champagne truffle

from Raffles Hotel

I can pop a few of these without feeling guilty

Getai in our backyard

2011-08-30T20:21:00.003+08:00

So we moved. Not exactly to the heartlands but definitely to a more local neighbourhood. Proof of this is the fact that a make shift stage was set up over the weekend for a getai show.

For my foreign friends, getai translates to mean "song stage". These are performances typically staged during the Hungry Ghost Festival (which is now) sponsored by the Chinese clan associations or businesses in the area. Gosh I haven't been to one of these in ages & when I realised that there is one right in our backyard, it was time to introduce X & the Girl to this uniquely Singaporean experience.

It was a bit of a lost cause of course cos they kept asking me what was going on & my Hokkien wasn't good enough to do a meaningful translation & X could not appreciate the kitschy appeal of it all. But it was a walk down memory lane for me & I'm glad all this happened right in my hood.

Hungry Ghost Festival occurs in the seventh month of the Chinese Lunar calendar. During this time, the spirits of the netherworld cross over to wander. Hence it is time for the Chinese to burn offerings, incense, put up performances to appease the ghosts so that they may enjoy their brief sojourn & return happily to where they come from.

Be it a make shift stage

there will always be fancy lighting, band & a very powerful sound system

Glam or Kitsch ?

Our fellow audience members

Night festival

2011-08-29T08:34:00.000+08:00

We love the Night Festival organised by the National Museum. We've been going to them the past 2 years - you can read about them here & here. This year it was no exception & the best thing is that they have extended it to 2 weekends.

One night in the museum

Eva Quartet singing Bulgarian folk songs

The Museum Rotunda provided good acoustics

This was my favorite

Marco Polo by Taiyuan Puppet Theatre

The story of Marco Polo performed in Hokkien & Italian !

(with subtitles of course)

Parking Mad by Benedetto Buffalino

parked Volvo cars in front of SAM flashing red & white lights from within

a crowd favorite

Curiosities by Alain Benini

Jellyfish attack - courtyard of SAM

Beautiful

Since it was raining on Saturday night & most of the events were pushed back, we headed over to the Peranakan Museum for their Night Ride programme.

The Girl got to do her sand art in their glow in the dark room.

Always popular with the children

Performance by Fusion Beats

Our biggest disappointment was not being able to catch the highlight of the Festival - Corazon de Angeles in Paradise. Originally scheduled for 10.30pm (which is already late for the little one) but got pushed back to 11.45pm due to the rain & there was no way she could stay up that late (she fell asleep at 10 in the cab on the way home).

There's more this weekend so grab a program & enjoy the museums at night.

Qian Hu Fish Farm

2011-08-10T07:10:00.001+08:00

I'm fascinated with the story of Qian Hu Fish Farm and the rise of the Managing Director Kenny Yap. A family business that started as a humble pig farm is now a multi dollar business listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange. Even the story of how they decided on their logo is an interesting one.

The Managing Director calls himself Kenny the Fish. The youngest of 7 brothers & the only one educated abroad, is featured in the media constantly. He has a website selling his many business books, one of which is called "Guppies & Yuppies. Kenny Yap - the fishy smell of success". Another "The rise of an Asian Entrepreneur" has him on the cover posing practically nude with bags of fish. Even you might be interested now ?

So what does Qian Hu do ? It supplies ornamental fish & it's listed on the exchange - wow. One weekend, we were wondering aimlessly around & when my brother suggested visiting their fish farm, I readily agreed.

There is even a map of the compound so needles to say it is huge.

A huge part of their business is the ability to successfully breed Asian Arowana. There were some selling for tens of thousands of dollars. They aren't edible (or at least I wouldn't eat a fish that costs $25,000), they aren't particularly pretty, they don't change colors nor do they talk. So what's the fuss ? They are endangered & also called Dragon Fish, enough said.

The company is obviously very proud of their MD cos there are walls (yup more than one) filled with newspaper & magazine articles all about him. He is after all the poster boy for Qian Hu.

We enjoyed looking at the fishes. I suppose if you have an aquarium at home, this would be a great place to get your supplies. We went kelong fishing last year & decided to keep the fish. After spending more than $100 to get an aquarium & accessories, the fishes lasted no more than 1 week. So much effort went to naught & the poor fishes....

We couldn't tear the kids away from the terrapins

There was also an area for fishing

Although it's a little out of the way, Kranji is a place that we will probably be visiting more in future if we want to get away from the city

Check out the Kranji Countryside Association website

Now who says Singapore is boring ?

Summer is a state of mind

2011-07-30T07:27:00.004+08:00

I miss Summer.

This may seem a strange thing to say given that I live in Singapore where it's summer all year round. Let me explain.

Summer is not just about the weather. Sure we look forward to the warmer temperatures after a long cold winter, wearing summer dresses & open toe sandals after having to be covered up for months.

But mostly summer is about BBQs, trips to the beach, concerts in the park, lazy days by the pool & the longer days. So to me, summer is like a different world after winter. I'm missing it especially when I look at friend's photos on Facebook or hearing about their plans to go to the beach.

I need to re-create that summer feeling here in Singapore.

Design & Public Places

2011-07-18T11:30:00.006+08:00

It's no secret that I adore good design and especially so if they are public places. Everytime I come across a building that I like, they seemed to be by local architectural firm WOHA. Remember SOTA & even tho I haven't blogged about it before, Church of St Mary of the Angels & another building in our neighbourhood, Newton Suites.

The Stadium MRT station won the President's Design Award 2010 & I only recently ventured out there. I missed taking a photo of the best feature - the entrance but you can google it or better yet, go check it out yourself.

MRT stations have never looked better

Speaking of MRT stations

Saw these at Dhoby Gaut

Such fun !

Going to the Zoo again

2011-07-14T08:41:00.002+08:00

We love the zoo but haven't been there in 2 years. During the last Youth Day holiday, we went back to revisit our favorite animals.

The proboscis monkey always makes me smile

Otters are so adorable

"Sangia" she shouted

the French term for wild boar

The beautiful & oh so rare White Tiger

We took the Boat Safari but word of advice, skip it

There was nothing to see or do during the 20 min journey

The highlight was this piece of reptile skin they passed around

We used to skip the petting zoo cos we get to see these when we were back in France

but I thought we'd drop by to see the goats, rabbits & ponies

I didn't realise we could buy $10 ticket that will entitle you to all 3 rides

(carriage, pony & carousel) & ended up buying $6 each

Another tip cos the kids would want to do all 3

Riding lessons in the horizon you think ?

The ever popular Elephants at Work & Play

I love Zebras

& Giraffes

but our all time favorite is

The Fragile Forest

You get to be up close & personal with the animals

You never know what you are going to see round the corner

Note for next trip :

I need to plan better to time our visit with animal feedings. The Zoo website has a suggested itinerary.

Little Boutique Hotel India

2011-07-13T07:56:00.001+08:00

In New York, they refer it as gentrification - the upgrade & restoration of deteriorated urban property by upper or middle class families thus changing the character of the area.

We call it modernisation. However you want to call it, that seem to be the way Little India is heading . Even Mustafa has upgraded. Loh Lik Peng, the wonderchild of Singapore's boutique hotel is quite a success story. I've raved about the New Majestic Restaurant which is of course located in the New Majestic Hotel. The best thing is that he has restored & brought new life to these old buildings.

Wanderlust, a former school building

I like the Peranakan effect outside

But a very different industrial feel inside

The wallpaper to remind you which neighbourhood you are in

Cocotte

A disadvantage to have a French partner who is a chef is that we hardly ever eat in French restaurants. He would take one look at the menu, gives his stamp of approval (as in he recognises the traditional dishes) & then say, oh we can have that at home (which is probably true when we were back in France but over here, we don't eat French that much at home, hint hint).

Anyway I like the homey feel of the restaurant &

determined to check it out one day with or without him

Cute little bar area

Yet another boutique hotel Moon

right next to the Wanderlust

Lorong 9 Geylang

2011-07-12T18:15:00.000+08:00

X is constantly amaze at the eating habits of Singaporeans. The latest being their ability to eat at roadside stalls but more importantly, how Singaporeans of all walks of life would do so. One day they could be dining at a high end French restaurant & the next day they would be eating at Geylang. You would never see this in France. Mostly because French are snobbish when it comes to food (& I mean this in a good way) & more so because they are finicky about hygiene.

No matter how good the food is, I would NEVER bring his folks to Geylang. I can't imagine them sitting by the road or drain, using utensils that are washed in a pail of water & a table that has been wiped with a cloth that has seen better days.

Judging from the crowds of people there, these are obviously not a concern with a majority of Singaporeans. As long as the food is good, we'll be there.

Pictures taken from my iphone leave much to be desired

but I'm going to post it anyway so indulge me

The famous Lorong 9 Frog leg claypot

Across the street for the Beef Horfun

Tender slices of beef with horfun

Still delicious after all these years

Oyster omelette

One of the best I've had

You can taste more of the egg & less of the starchy flour

We ordered one with ginger & spring onions

but much preferred the spicy ma la flavor

Tree top Walk MacRitchie

2011-07-11T22:09:00.002+08:00

This is by far the most challenging of the walks we had done so far. Definitely not a flip flop type walk. I had put off going there when the Girl was younger even though I've heard really good reviews. From MacRitchie it's a 4.5km to the entrance of the Tree Top Walk making it 9km round trip - not your stroll in the park.

But I figured she's ready now & just in case, I roped in my nephew. So together with my brother, his family & us, we decided to do the Trail which ended up being 12km.

From MacRitchie Reservoir, head towards the canoeing sheds. Past that & the trail to the Tree Top Walk starts from there. If you want less of walk, there is another entrance from the carpark @ Venus Drive.

I always get excited when I find mushrooms

Can't help it

Water Storage Facility

The Tree Top Walk is only 250m & closed at 5pm so if you're going in the afternoon, make sure you factor that in. Another point to note is that it goes 1 direction only so make sure you enter from the entrance.

It's pretty awesome even tho it's only 250m

We're about 20 m off ground

Most of the trail is well paved unlike what I remember of the mud paths in the past

The last part of our walk

The beautifully manicured lawns of the golf course

My nephew's scooter

Not a good idea tho, my brother ended up carrying it most of the way. It would have been a nice shot if not for the green towel hanging on it, ah well. Despite the distance, the kids did pretty well.

It is beautiful

Water monitor lizard

(I believe that's what they are called

sorry I'm not much of a nature guide)

Meal at Little India

2011-07-10T21:47:00.000+08:00

We were recently at Little India & chatting (rather animatedly I suppose) about going to Komala Villas when the assistant in the shop we had just past, stopped us & said we should try New Madras Woodlands instead. Every single one in the shop bobbed their head in agreement so that was how we found ourselves trying out a new restaurant one Saturday morning.

These steel trays may look sterile & prison like but I like it. What's an Indian meal in a restaurant without these trays. That's the idly set, by the way.

Forgot what these doughnut things are called

but we loved them so much, we had seconds & thirds

Cheese thosai

Mango lassi, yum

Playing with food ?

The entire meal for 4 adults & 2 children with drinks came up to $34.

Good & inexpensive

Walking the train tracks

2011-07-10T21:07:00.010+08:00

If you live in Singapore, you can't miss all the excitement over the currently unused railway tracks. As of July 1st 2011, Tanjong Pagar station ceased operations & the Singapore-Malaysia railway terminal has relocated to Woodlands. That means there will only be 1 km of railway line in Singapore versus the 26km before.

The government has already announced that on July 18, dismantling of the tracks will begin so for now until then the railway line is open for the public to experience it one last time. Last weekend, we decided to walk the tracks, along with half of Singapore & their cameras.

Not kidding about the hordes of people

There were some who undertook to walk the entire way. We weren't that crazy. I thought Bukit Timah Station at King Albert Park would be a good start & from there, we headed in the direction of Tanjong Pagar.

I didn't see this until now but The Green Corridor just put up an excellent post with the map of the railway tracks breaking it down in sections, access points, highlighting photo op etc. Last Saturday's Straits Times had a good write up.

My advice is to start early, bring lots of water & wear a hat. The tracks are obviously not sheltered so it can get very hot. Make sure you wear track shoes.

The old station master's house

The platform @ Bukit Timah Station

Where possible, walk on the pathway that runs alongside

The novelty of walking on the tracks wore off very quickly

Looking at this, I realised how rare it is to see a monsoon drain

The children at play

Love the greenery along the way

Going pass housing estates

Beautiful homes

This has become a part of Singapore's heritage & a pity to remove it. I hope the government will come up with a plan to find some way of preserving this.

Graffiti in the underpass where we exit near Buona Vista station

What a great way to end a walk, with food

Art Garden @ SAM

2011-06-30T11:10:00.001+08:00

Meet Walther

The huge bunny who decided to lie down in front of SAM

The Art Garden on till end of August

An entire gallery completely covered with train tracks,

even on the walls

Tree of love

filled with lots of papier mache animals & figures

Make your own paper fruits

Choose from 6 different designs with different degree of difficulty

It's a lot harder than it looks

All it requires is a little bit of patience

Take your time with it

I folded while the Girl added the glue

Here's the Girl's favorite fruit

Yup, she loves mangosteens

Once you're done, you get to keep it or exchange it for a real fruit

We kept ours

Pasting stickers on the elephant

Dancing solar flowers

Such a happy wall

Mummy Dearest

Bigger version of the paper dolls

Lightning Action

Are these white empty boxes ?

Or Toy boxes ?

A special video effect slowly adding images to the boxes making them sort of come alive

Since you are there for the Art Garden,

Do check out the Video Art Series

SAM website has activity books for children of different age groups

Here's the one for 5 & above

Chiu Chow food in HK

2011-06-29T20:45:00.000+08:00

When I'm in Hong Kong, my friends know not to bring me to chi chi restaurants. Actually more specifically no Western food. I love my wanton noodles, beef brisket noodles, claypot rice, century egg porridge.....& chiu chow (teochew) food.

In HK, they call them "chiu chow da lang" restaurants - the usual braised goose but these are my favorites

Minced pork & oyster porridge

(my all time favorite supper food)

I will never forget one supper in an unnamed da lang restaurant in Tsim Sha Tsui where the next table was occupied by some mafia characters. And how would I know ? Well one minute they were having supper, then they left only to return half an hour later with blood drenched shirts to continue their meal. I kid you not. I almost freaked out.

Cold crabs !

I miss HK

2011-06-28T20:47:00.000+08:00

I was recently back in HK

Catching up with old friends

Missing them terribly

Missing the wonderful food

Enjoying the sights & sound

Of this hectic & busy city

I used to call home

Keeping The Girl Occupied during School Holidays

2011-06-16T21:32:00.000+08:00

I never had to worry about school holidays before. When we were living in France, I was a stay at home mum so school breaks were just extended weekends. When we moved to Singapore, she went to full day kindergarten which meant there were only a handful of days the centre was closed.

What was I going to do with her for a whole month ? Playdates. Camp (I finally found one with an interesting agenda but more importantly, didn't cost an arm & a leg which was where she went last week). Thankfully there are lots going on around town & this is one of our favorites. Before I go there, a little about our lunch.

So I took the day off to have lunch with her (a mother & daughter bonding lunch) at Wild Rocket which was very good. The restaurant is tucked away in Mount Emily but was packed at lunchtime. My first time there & I fully intend to go back again, with X. I ordered the 3 course set lunch very reasonably priced at $28. The starter (we shared) was deep fried tofu with creamy century egg sauce - a little unusual but we both liked it. I had the much talked about laksa pesto with quail's egg & shrimp that was yummy. Her burger was juicy & flavorful. The cucumber & pink grapefruit granita was the perfect end to a very satisfying meal.

After the nice lunch, we strolled leisurely over to the National Museum to the Playdome as part of the Children's Season. I had intended to go there only for a couple hours & then head home to do a bit of swimming but nope, we were there close to 4 hours.

She insisted on going to every station & doing everything.

First stop - the Wayang Play Stage. The children get to decorate & colour the mask any way they like, after being briefed on what the typical colors meant. Then they get to put on the mask, wayang costumes & do a bit of playacting.

Trying out the mask

We had a lot of fun here. Picking up different colored cloth, moving it around & seeing it reflected within the giant kaleidoscope.

Nothing too much happening at the Sun Deck

Chilli Garden

The kids are given a round plastic disc & asked to design it. Once done, slot into one of many cones scattered in the garden & watch it against the different backgrounds.

The stop that we liked best was the Happy Hawkers. There were 5 different stations where children can make food out of plasticine, serve the dish & at the same time learn about the old methods of making food. Satay, laksa, teh tarik, roti prata & tok tok mee.

This is the bowl of laksa she made complete with orange gravy, sliced egg, peas & chillis

Satays on the grill

Satays with sliced cucumbers & egg

That's how we spent an entire afternoon at the Museum

SOTA School of the Arts

2011-06-16T20:55:00.000+08:00

Designed by architecture firm WOHA, SOTA is the new iconic building in the block. I've walked past it often & finally decided to walk up the stairs to explore it. Let me take you on a tour.

15 minutes

2011-06-15T07:19:00.004+08:00

"In the future, everybody will be famous for 15 minutes"

Andy Warhol in 1968

We discovered this cute space in Lasalle School of the Arts that I had blogged about before. We had gone there to catch a show but arrived early so happily settled ourselves in 15 minutes for a pre-show coffee.

I couldn't tell you if the food was any good cos we didn't have any but other tables seem to be enjoying their pizzas. They have live performances at night & have been told by my young friends that it is rather happening. Click on their cool website to find out more.

Do check this out if you are in the neighbourhood

15 minutes

La Salle College of the Arts

1 McNally Rd

Dairy Farm Nature Park

2011-06-14T20:48:00.010+08:00

This is the second in our series of trails which should have been called Western Adventure Park Connector Network Walking Trail but due to reasons I will explain later, we only did part of the trail.

First off, the taxi couldn't find Segar LRT station which should have been the initial starting point but we did find Zhenghua Park so we decided to start there instead. According to my brother the mountain cycling enthusiast, there are several popular bike trails there.

After a short walk, we arrived at Dairy Farm Nature Park

I have to admit I've never heard of Wallace Education Centre

Once a cow shed for Dairy Farm, now totally refurbished &

turned into a centre for promoting environmental research.

We spent quite a bit of time poking around, looking at the students' projects & reading the materials. All rather fascinating.

What a great space !

I was tempted to take some of the other trails to Bukit Timah Nature Reserve

but decided to stick to our plan & made a mental note to check those out another time

The Singapore Quarry is a bit of a trek but worth making the detour

I hadn't expected to see water in a quarry

But then again, it has been inactive since the 70s

From there, we were supposed to take the Hillview Park Connector to Bukit Batok Nature Park but we never made it. The Hillview area requires walking along the road past residential cndos & it wasn't very interesting. By then, we were tired & just needed an excuse to grab a cab home & hopped into the pool.

We might go to Bukit Batok Nature Park another time. Stay tuned.

Cirque Eloize ID

2011-06-04T07:52:00.004+08:00

We just watched this brilliant show & I can't wait to recommend it to you.

I'm reluctant to call Cirque Eloize ID a circus performance cos it is unlike any I've seen. Like Cirque du Soleil there are no animals & both are based in Canada. But that is kind of where the similarity ends. This is a highly charged show with an urban setting. No glamorous costumes, the performers are in street clothes. Where Cirque du Soleil has haunting music, this here is rock, electronica & hip hop.

You get the usual contortionist, juggler, aerial acrobat, balancing chairs but done in a new & exciting way mixed with skates, stunt bicycles, skipping ropes & break dancing.

For me, the highlight has to be the finale trampoline act. The performance is done against a wall that is constantly changing with the video projection making it absolutely amazing. Catch the show while it is still in town, you won't regret it.

Southern Ridges

2011-05-30T22:12:00.000+08:00

Would you think this is Singapore ?

Inspired by my BFF who goes walking every chance she gets, my current fav pastime is to explore the various trails. All you have to do is to go to the National Parks website & browse here. There are good descriptions of the trail, what to watch out for, how to get there & detailed maps. Most of the trails are well marked anyway so you don't worry about getting lost. If you don't feel too confident, by all means download the maps & carry it along.

The first trail we did was the Southern Ridges. It has been one that I've been meaning to go for a long time so I was really excited when we finally did so much so I pressed on even tho it was drizzling.

Old & very tattered cable car on display

You can start from either Canopy Walk (Kent Ridge Park) or the Marang Trail (VivoCity). It takes about 2-3 hours depending on how often you stop & trust me, there are many distractions along the way so take your time & enjoy the walk. We did it from Kent Ridge Park. It was a little nostalgic for me cos I have not been back in the vicinity of NUS since I graduated & boy, has that area changed ! (well I did graduate a long while back).....

The Canopy Walk

A very pleasant way to start

Up close & personal with the friendly monkeys

Do not feed them

If you'd not been there, I'd suggest spending some time walking around the Park

There's a spice garden, butterfly enclosure, weird & exotic plants....

and many playgrounds.

Be prepared to tear the kids away

Sculpture @ Hort Park

Ceramic tiles @ Visitor Center Hort Park

Alexandra Arch near the entrance of Hort Park

We like the Forest Walk

It's an elevated walkway around Telok Blangah Hills

You can see the forest below & I also mean to show you what not to do

Even if the walk is easy, slippers are not appropriate footwear

It was a lot of fun

Next highlight - the gorgeous Henderson Wave

It's a photographer's dream

I want to go there one evening to take pictures of the bridge at night

Next stop, Mount Faber

It has been ages ahem, pak tor days since I have been up Mount Faber so imagine my surprise when I discovered The Jewel Box with swanky restaurants & bars right next to the Cable Car Station. We had drinks at the Emerald Lodge, before you reach The Jewel Box

From there, the Marang Trail which would lead you to the finishing point, right at the entrance of Harbourfront MRT station. If you like, you could always hop over to VivoCity for a meal or refreshments.

It's an interesting & diverse trail. Lots of photo opportunities. Level of difficulty - none. Highly recommended.

Dali in Spain

2011-05-24T21:19:00.004+08:00

Our recent brush with Dali gave me the perfect excuse to blog about our trip last summer to the Dali Museum in his home town Figueres. It was on the drive home from Barcelona & I could not pass on the opportunity to visit.

The surrealistic building embodies what Dali is all about - whimsical, funny & unpredictable.

The courtyard

& what do the statues remind you of ?

The dome within the museum

Can we tell what is this a painting of ?

Now can you ?

Funnily enough, with the naked eye, from afar you couldn't make out the image but when I took the picture with the camera, the image stood out very clearly

HIs fascination with drawers

I'm addicted to Bak Chor Mee

2011-05-23T21:50:00.000+08:00

I've talked often about my love for noodles. Char Kway Teow, Mee Siam, Soba, Pho, Ramen, Wanton Mee but strangely enough for the first 20 something years of my life, that list didn't include Bak Chor Mee.

But since I moved back, I cannot seem to get enough of them. By far, one of my favorite is located in Hong Lim Food Centre # 02-16 rated 3 chopsticks - a die die must try stall by Makansutra. Thankfully this is near my office so I go there at least once a week.

The line at lunch time is always very long but it is well worth the wait.

So what is it so special about this bowl of Bak Chor Mee ? It's the vinegar. The perfectly cooked noodles. The slivers of liver & meat. The wontons & meat balls. My personal favorite, the piece of dried fish.

The most expensive museum in Singapore

2011-05-22T18:34:00.008+08:00

I've put off going to the Arts Science Museum not only because of it's prohibitive entry fee of S$30 for adults & *gasp* $17 for children (to put this in perspective, the fees for the National Museum is $10/5) but because the idea of a museum that unites arts & science does not exactly fill me with excitement.

Right now, there are 3 three reasons to go 1. Van Gogh Alive 2. Dali 3. 20% OCBC card promotion.

You can't miss it, it's located inside the iconic Lotus Bud / Palm structure in front of Marina Bay Sands which apparently collects rain water to be recycled in the restrooms.

Dali is in town

Do you agree ?

The Van Gogh Alive does not actually show any of his paintings per se. Instead, it's a multimedia projection of his paintings within the gallery. The images juxtaposed with one another & seem to take on a life of their own. The best way to enjoy this is to sit back, relax & immerse yourself in the music & the art of Van Gogh. Highly recommended.

The museum is extremely kids friendly. Interactive games like *Spot the difference* or *Re-arrange the picture*. The activity area had paper crafts for us to take home - all related to the current exhibition.

Then of course there was Dali with his unmistakable moustache, clocks & drawers.

Madman or Genius ?

Finally something to leave you with.

Where we are most weekends

2011-05-12T21:59:00.000+08:00

We go cycling almost every weekend. The Girl has her bike & earlier this year, I bought myself a foldable bike too (already looking to upgrade but that's another post). Both our bikes fit easily into the boot of a car, so only X has to rent his bike.

I discovered Lifestyle Bike & Skates that has pitstops along the PCN (Park Connector Networks that goes around the island). The parks are connected & you can rent a bike from one of their 6 stops & then return it at any of the other stops (no need to backtrack). Depending on the bike, they charge $6-$8 for two hours.

Bistro @ Changi Beach Park

For that much needed beer after our ride

If you start from Changi Beach Park & do the route the other way

Then there is always East Coast Lagoon Food Centre

Singapore Biennale 2011

2011-05-12T21:21:00.000+08:00

Going to the Singapore Biennale was a no brainer for many reasons, amongst them to check out the old Kallang Airport (I love the building), family day sundays (free entry & activities for the kids) & of course to check out the artists....

Gosia Wlodarczark - frost drawings on glass

One of my favorites

Elmgreen & Dragset Full size German barn

complete with Singaporean farm boys

installed in one of the old hangers

Michael Lin's "what a difference a day makes"

whereby he purchased the entire contents from a shop in Shanghai, shipped to Singapore & redisplaying all the items & the cartons used in the shipment

Thai artist Arin Rungjang "Unequal Exchange"

Creates a living space using Ikea furniture & then inviting Thai migrant workers to exchange one of their existing pieces of furniture with one of his

Another of our favorites

Rafael Lozano-Hammer "Frequency & Volume"

Based on the size of our shadows on the wall, a frequency is detected

A beautiful Sunday.

We finished the day by flying the kite she made

I found a Kacang Puteh man

2011-05-12T21:09:00.000+08:00

Don't know about you guys but I grew up with this.

So imagine my delight when I found the kacang puteh man. It is obviously no longer 10 cents (yup those were the days !) but $1 now. He has all the old favorites plus newer varieties like rice craker types (he is keeping up with the trend).

Do say hi if you do run into him.

Barcelona - Football & Flamenco

2010-10-30T19:34:00.003+08:00

If you're a football fan (for my American friends, I'm talking about soccer), a must do in Barcelona would be to catch FC Barcelona in action. We were lucky that they had a home game when we were there.

I figured the best incentive to get X to go watch a flamenco performance (more about that later) with me would be to accompany him for a soccer match. Truth be told, I do enjoy going to watch a game live. I'm not at all a football fan but there's something about the stadium lights, hearing the fans roar, beer (they serve non-alcoholic version, yuks) & hot dogs - the whole atmosphere that is electrifying.

As you exit the train station, you just have to follow the crowd especially the groups wearing the home team jersey. You know you are near Camp Nou Stadium, when you start seeing these stands.

No I didn't purchase my tickets from there. I don't even know if these are operational. I bought them online like everybody else & collected the tickets from FNAC.

Camp Nou (New Field in Catalan) is very impressive. It can sit close to 100,000 making it the largest stadium in Europe.

The camera action

He who scored the one & only goal of the game

For the football fans who would know who these players are

Not bad for an evening entertainment
Wish they'd served real beer tho

3 nights later, we went for a very different kind of show. Based on tripadvisor reviews, I made a booking at Tablao de Carmen. It sounded a little touristy & most definitely not the cheapest option for a flamenco show (I found much cheaper alternative on the internet) but most of the reviewers gave it a thumbs up & since I didn't have a clue, why not.

Tablao de Carmen is within the grounds of Poble Espanyol, a Spanish village created for tourists (see what I mean). The buildings & architecture represent all the different periods in Spanish history now occupied by restaurants, galleries & artisanal workshops.

If you have tickets for the show, entry to the village is free. Arrive well ahead of the show to give yourselves ample time to walk around the premises.

This was the closet we got to El Bulli - this is where Ferran Adria sources his plates. The restaurant by the way will close next year.

Tablao de Carmen has 2 seatings every night & you have a choice of just watching the show with drinks, having the tapas menu or the full dinner menu. That determines which tables you are assigned to. All diners have tables closest to the stage.

We had the tapas menu @ 45euro which is more than enough - ham, cheeses, potatoes, bread & either a bottle of wine or a jug of sangria.

The dancers & musicians put up a good show. Both X & I really enjoyed it. The highlight was this male dancer which was even better than the male dancers we saw at a flamenco show at the Esplanade recently.

ilike ilight

2010-10-29T19:34:00.000+08:00

You have till Nov 7th to catch ilight, a sustainable light art festival. It's free, it's beautiful & what better way to enjoy the lights of the marina bay area. We had dinner at One Fullerton & then made our way around.

Check out the website to see where the 24 installations are located. If you have an iphone, download the app. We didn't even get to see all of them. Here's a look at what we did manage.

The beautiful city that I call home
It takes my breath away

CBD has never looked more beautiful

The beautiful Helix bridge that links Marina Bay Sands

The *surf board* - Skypark, Ku De Tah & the infinity pool

Our favorite Japanese restaurant

2010-10-28T18:27:00.000+08:00

In a city where Japanese restaurants abound, everybody will have their own favorite.

Ours is Akashi. We have been going to them at Tanglin Shopping Centre for years. Even though they now have several branches, the original outlet is still our favorite.

Since moving back, we actually haven't been there at all. So imagine our surprise when we found the original branch closed & that they are now in swanky new location at Orchard Parade Hotel (does anyone still call it the old Ming Court Hotel ?)

The chefs & the servers are still the same. The food is still good.
What are our favorites ? Sushi/sashimi, Spider maki, salmon skin hand roll, grilled eggplant, chazuke, cha soba, tonkatsu...in fact there is nothing on the menu that we don't like.

Akashi
1 Tanglin Road
#01-01A Orchard Parade Hotel

The little straw house revisited

2010-10-27T08:09:00.000+08:00

Remember my friends who were building their little straw house. It's done (well almost) & they moved in last winter. It's also a lot sturdier than the house the little pigs built (for those who had commented in my previous post :)

Love their little garden

Mathieu who is extremely talented, built this tree house for his kids.
That's what happens when you are sitting on a bit of land

Remember the little stream that runs right in front of their house

I had to take a photo of this
A toadstool that just grew out of nowhere

Another rope adventure thingy
they put together for the kids

It was great catching up with Katia & seeing her settled into the home they built. Just so you know the *build* is not done. They are about to embark on a bigger project - a bigger house. Stay tuned for more updates.

La Villa Tartary Revistied

2010-10-26T07:33:00.000+08:00

For reason I can only attribute to fluke, when you do a search on La Villa Tartary on google, my blog entry in Feb 09 is the first entry just above the restaurant's official website.

With all that good food churned out by X's mum & family, we don't need to eat out. In fact this meal was only one of 2 that we did.

I managed to get more pictures of the outdoor area since we went there for lunch. The ambience is still as before, modern & friendly. Sylvie is full of smiles & ever the accommodating hostess. The food is even better than what I remembered it to be. No wonder the restaurant was packed for a Thursday lunch. Not bad for a 26 Euro menu.

Pieds et Jarrets de Porc Panés, Crème aux Herbes, Salades Mêlées.

This was my favorite item on the menu the last time & was glad to see that they have brought it back again. Breaded pork feet & shoulder (well here's the proof when I said it looks better than it sounds)

Flan de Fenouil, Pomme de Terre, Chair de Crabes, Emulsion aux Olives
Flan of fennel with sliced potatoes & crab meat

This was the favorite of the table
Entre Terre et Mer, embeurée de Choux vert au lard.
"Between Land & Sea"
It's a delicious combination of mushrooms & seafood
Well seasoned, well paired ingredients
Absolutely delicious

X had this as his main course
Cabillaud, Bouillon Crémeux, Encornets et Morilles
Cod in a cream sauce with mushroom

Sablé, Poires, Sauce Caramel aux Noix, Sorbet Citron

The Girl had her ice cream

Pots de Crème à la Châtaigne, Badiane, Sésame

If you do make it to Ardeche one day, please drop by & say hi to Sylvie & Francke and taste their delicious food.

My favorite things in France

2010-10-19T21:05:00.006+08:00

I know I haven't updated my blog in a while. We were back in France last month & for me, it was a vacation & yet not a vacation. We were doing domestic stuff like cleaning the house, cooking, doing all my favorite things, lunches with the family but it felt comforting & made me really missed France.

So what are my favorite things ? If you've been reading my blog from when I was in France, you should be familiar with these....

Picking figs from the tree at the entrance of our village

Going for walks

Picking blackberries

Fresh fruits & vegetables from Papy's garden
Tomatoes just never taste the same as those you find in Singapore
Potato Crique (shredded potato pancakes)

Ahh my personal favorite
Picking mushrooms
Unfortunately it was too dry for cepes
but we did find some coulemelle in the garden
& cooked them the way the French like their wild mushrooms,
in an omelette

We were lucky to still get some raspberries
almost the end of the season

Saucisson
Guess what we lugged back to Singapore by the dozens

X's parents had just come back from Périgord,
land of foie gras & truffles
Duck leg stuffed with foie gras

The Girl who stopped eating cheese in Singapore
couldn't get enough of it when we were in France

We went to Barcelona for 5 days & left her with her grandparents. Not a single protest was heard. She was happy to feed the rabbits (they run free in the garden), pick eggs from the coup, play with the dogs & basically got spoilt rotten.

I miss France.

By the River

2010-09-08T21:40:00.000+08:00

One of my favorite places to eat @ Robertson Quay is Aburiya. It's in my opinion, one of the best places in town for Japanese/Korean BBQ. Any BBQ lover will tell you that it's all about the meats & they do theirs the old fashioned way with charcoal. Hmm I love table BBQ.

You can order your meats marinated in several ways - pepper, tare (sweet sauce) or miso. The wagyu rib eye is reason enough to go there.

Shoju
Korean rice wine

Wagyu rib eye
Meat that melts in your mouth

Pork Belly with black pepper

I didn't take a picture but The Girl loves beef tongue & so do I

On top of the meats, we would also order a platter of vegetables - corn, green pepper, mushrooms & onions. Kim Chee soup. Bibimbap.

Foie Gras

Onigiri
What it's burnt ?!....well that's the best part
Yummy burnt rice

We enjoy taking a stroll after dinner

or make another stop at Wine Connection

for wine & cheese

There is a very good selection of cheeses

& gourmet food items

Seafood Paradise @ Singapore Flyer

2010-09-06T21:27:00.000+08:00

The story of Seafood Paradise & the chain of Paradise restaurants in Singapore started as a zhi char star in Defu Lane (where is that ?). Doesn't matter that the location is out of the way, Singaporeans will know how to sniff out good food.

I still don't know where Defu Lane is which meant we had gone to the Seafood Paradise @ Singapore Flyer. These are just some of my favorite classic Chinese dishes.

The cold platter
so chinese wedding

Jellyfish
The Girl inherited my love for this

My favorite way to prepare fish - Steamed
The best part - the fish cheek
My family will fight for that

Steamed prawns
Deshelled & then eaten with cut chillies & dark soy sauce

Abalone & Sea Cucumber

Chilli Crab
(not exactly their best dish)

This is apparently their signature dish
Seafood Paradise Fried Rice
maybe I'm just not a big fan of fried rice
I don't see the fuss

Emily of Emerald Hill

2010-09-04T00:09:00.000+08:00

I wrote this a few months back but forgot to post - just found it in my draft box. Oops.

For the first time, I watched Emily of Emerald Hill & I was in love.

A play written by Stella Kon & 25 years after her first performance, Margaret Chan took the stage again playing the role of Emily Gan. I can't even begin to describe what I love about it. It's a monologue of a Nonya matriarch - her thoughts, her feelings, the life of a nonya lady in 1950s. A timeless story - issues that resonate even in 2010.

More importantly, watching Margaret Chan is a delight. I'm so lucky to have caught this performance esp since it was done on the last night before the Vic would be closed for renovations. Throughout the play & in between laughter, you will be wondering if you like Emily, hate her or just feel sorry for her. Just imagine bearing the weight of the play on your shoulders for the entire 2 hours (or however long it is). But never once did she miss a beat. You are with her all the way.

Even though I'm not from a Peranakan family & couldn't understand some of the Malay phrases, I thoroughly enjoyed the play & just loved Margaret Chan's performance. Apparently the play is studied in schools & we should be proud of it - something truly Singaporean.

YOG

2010-08-29T23:10:00.000+08:00

The inaugural Youth Olympic Games that was held in Singapore just came to a close. I know the organising committee has gotten a lot of flack for the poor turnout at events, availability or rather unavailability of tickets, bad quality of food for volunteers etc. But overall we had a very good experience.

I had only myself to blame for booking tickets at the last minute so needless to say, by the time I checked all the popular events like gymnastics, badminton & swimming were sold out. My one suggestion is that they should have a way of letting you know which tickets were still available on a summary level instead of having to click into each sport & each date to find out if the event was sold out or not. Anyway I did manage to secure tickets for handball which I figured The Girl would find interesting as well.

Oh & each ticket for the Games came with a transit link card for 4 free rides on the MRT which I thought was quite cool.

Handball was one of 3 sports held at Suntec Convention Centre. Just before we entered the venue, we were given a little brochure explaining the rules of the game, which I thought was a very nice touch. I've never been to a sports event where they did that - they always kind of assume that you already know what you will be watching. I wonder if they do that for the Olympics as well.

What makes every sporting event interesting are the fans. There's nothing quite like sports to bring out the patriotic spirit in us. We didn't get to catch the Singapore team in action & when I asked The Girl which team she wanted to support, she said "Of course yellow, their clothes (I guess she meant jerseys) look nice" - you can't argue with that logic.

We caught 2 games - the first Angola 27 vs Brazil 30. It was an exciting game. Both teams were quite closely matched & the yellow team (Brazil) won. The second was between Australia & Kazakhstan with the latter being clearly a much stronger team. In case you are wondering, Denmark's the champion for Women's Handball.

I was quite impressed with the half time performances. They had MCs to get the crowd riled up, threw prizes into the stands & gave our students opportunities to perform.

Not exactly the Cheerios but they put up a very credible show

Maybe because it was Suntec, just outside the halls there were lots of activities

Art exhibition

Games

Performances

Not bad for $10. Where else can you get all these entertainment at that price ?

Orchid Garden

2010-08-23T22:11:00.000+08:00

We go to the Botanical Gardens so often & yet there are still parts of the place that we have not explored. Mostly because we have our favorite spot, our favorite trail & being the boring old folks that we are, we like our routine.

Once in a while, when I'm feeling particularly energetic, we'll do something out of the ordinary like check out the Orchid Garden. For my non Singaporean friends, our national flower is Vanda Miss Joaquim, an orchid selected for prominence in 1981.

I had a hard time editing the photos for this post cos they were all good. Apologies for the lack of captions but I didn't & couldn't take down the names of the flowers. Enjoy.

Vanda Miss Joaquim

What we did on National Day

2010-08-20T21:53:00.000+08:00

Here's what we did on National Day

We went to the National Museum & got our faces painted

The Girl & her friend Sakura showing off what we had to wait over an hour for, which by the way were all gone 3 hours later at the pool

We coloured & drew

We made badges

We played old fashioned carnival games like shoot the ping pong balls

We threw rattan rings over milo tins

We fished
She wore a T-shirt that says Singapore rocks (courtesy of Aunty Brenda, thank you !)

We tried our luck at tikam tikam

National Museum rocks !

Tanjong Beach Club

2010-08-19T21:38:00.001+08:00

Remember back in May when I talked about the mammoth beach club that would be opening up in Tanjong Beach in Sentosa. Well here it is.

I have a thing for queen / king size lounge beds. Remember to bring your own beach towels else you'd have to buy one of theirs for $25.

We are in love with their bar stools....

....their tiles

....& the retro feel of the place

Are we in Singapore ?

The other part of the beach which features a more wholesome activity - beach volleyball.

By the river

2010-08-18T21:11:00.001+08:00

Lately we've been going to Robertson Quay rather often. I'll explain a little later why that is the case. One of the places that we like to go is Brussels Sprouts esp during the weekends when they offer a special kids menu......for free. Yup you read it right. Kids eat for free. You get a choice of main course from the kids menu, a free drink & ice cream.

As the name implies, they do mussels. My favorite is the one done in white wine sauce. The tom yam is good too. Order a glass of wine & be prepared to while away the afternoon.

Here's the reason why. The Girl's new toy. A Razor Kick Scooter. It's foldable so we bring it with us everywhere we go. Thankfully there are lots of places in Singapore she can scoot. Robertson Quay is one of them. It's perfect. I have my glass of wine & at the same time, keep an eye on her while she zips around.

Takoyaki Balls

2010-08-18T18:33:00.000+08:00

One of the reasons I love being back in Singapore - snacks. Think curry puffs, chicken wings & fish balls. It's hard to go hungry here - there's food every where you turn.

My new fave snack are these Japanese takoyaki balls. They are flour balls filled with diced octopus & then topped with okonomiyaki sauce, mayonnaise & topped with shaved bonito. But in Singapore, you can find them filled with cheese, ham, tuna etc.

It's always fun to watch them do it as well. Pouring the batter, putting in the filling & then turning the balls around in their individual moulds.

Yummy

Fish Head Bee Hoon

2010-08-17T21:38:00.000+08:00

Somebody once asked me what would I like to have for my last meal, I replied at that time, Fish Head Bee Hoon. I might have a different answer now & I'm sure the answer will change each time I'm asked that question. Nonetheless, it gives you an idea how much I love fish head bee hoon.

My favorite place is Ka Soh on Amoy Street. We've been going there for years & it is ALWAYS on my check list of must-go-to-places-to-eat whenever I was back in Singapore. Boring as it may sound, we always order the same few dishes, every single time.

We don't order this but the ubiquitous deep fried pork lard is de riguer on every table. It's unhealthy but who cares.

Crab meat with tofu over a bed of chinese cabbage

Chilli Squid with Kang Kong
My photos of the Har Cheong Gai (shrimp paste chicken) didn't turn out too well but that dish is another given.

La piece de resistance
(which is a term that always amuses me cos it sounds so funny when you read it in English)
Fish Head Bee Hoon
my type of comfort food

Exploring Tiong Bahru

2010-08-14T21:45:00.000+08:00

A few months ago (yes I know this is rather delayed) I had to go to Tiong Bahru Plaza to pick up my glasses & decided to jalan jalan over to my favorite art deco housing estate in Singapore. Talk about nostalgia. Brings back memories of Sunday morning marketing with my parents. Chwee Kuey.

Do you remember these mail boxes ?

You know something is a classic when after many years, it still doesn't look dated. Just look at this block. Love the lines.

Not surprisingly the new Tiong Bahru market looks rather out of place amongst the older buildings.

Gorgeous buildings

Do you know of another estate that has coconut trees lining its walkway ?

Tiong Bahru has become home to several boutique hotels. Above is Hotel Nostalgia. There is also Link Hotel & last night, my friends & I were at the roof top bar of the Wangz Hotel. I'd recommend going there for drinks if you are in the neighbourhood.

The good old gathering place for bird lovers. Since it's Singapore, of course, it's updated with a new structure & numbered tags for the cages.