Spike

On the way home last evening, we spotted a hedgehog walking on the road. It was nearly ran over by another car. We stopped in the middle of the road, and Hannah rushed to picked it up. We brought it home, and now Spike had settled happily in his new home. We gave him food, water and warmth. It had a bit of diarrhea, but the next morning, he was all well and happy... at least I think he was :)

Everyone meet Spike...Spike meet everyone.

Wahhhaahahaaahhhhhhaaaa.....

Came back after a long day, and Jet was running up and down the deck. He had been cooped up in the kennel for the whole day.

Hannah : We need an activity or something to wear him out. He has too much energy.

Me : We can try to put the rope in the ceiling beam on the deck. He can jump for it and that helps to make him tired.

Hannah : Good idea. Don't put it too high. He will never be able to get it and that makes him upset.

Me : Ok.. 

Me (a few minutes later) : Wahhahhaaaahhhhaaaaa ..... 

(This was what happened... * video)

Jet is changing his name

Hannah is changing Jet's name to "JetNO"

"Jet NO, sit."
"Jet NO,down."
"Jet NO, come here."
"Jet NO, go away."
"Jet NO,don't drool here."
"Jet NO,don't suck on this."
"Jet NO, suck on that."
"Jet NO, suck on your own pillow."
"Jet NO, do not disturb your Kaly."
"Jet NO, stop it."
"No, No, No.No. Jet NO."
"Jet NO!"

Kaly Again

This morning woke up to find Kaly salivating in her kennel. I was nervous because of the chocolate eating  incident a few days ago, and today the vet wanted to get her blood just to ensure her kidney is fine. Looking closer, I found out the reason for her constant salivating. She had a piece of lamb bone caught between her teeth! It was a piece of bone which we gave them last night after dinner. As a result of the bone between her mouth, she couldn't close her mouth, and saliva was pouring out... nasty, sticky saliva! and she looked mortified.

Hannah and I spend the next 10 minutes holding her down and pulling the piece of bone out from between her teeth... Sigh.. Kaly.

Kaly

This is a chat conversation Hannah and I had on September 7th while I was in Singapore... Jet had swallowed a tampon and Kaly ate half a plate of chocolate chip cookies.

12:51 PM me: what did the girl do?

12:52 PM *hannah*: ate half a plate of chocolate chip cookies

 me: holy shit!

 *hannah*: because i was upstairs cleaning up jets vomit because he ATE MY HANDKERCHIEF

  i just got back from the vets

 me: you have been BUSY!

 *hannah*: yeah

12:53 PM me: is she ok?

 *hannah*: she is fine, but the vet would like to see her on Monday as a follow up

 me: how much did it cost?

 *hannah*: apparently cranberries are really bad for dogs kidneys

  70

 me: ok

12:54 PM *hannah*: which is expensive considering i could have just gotten hydrogen peroxide, but we didn't have any

 me: sigh.... she was never that naughty

 *hannah*: yeah i know

  i had the cookies on a plate on the back of the counter

  i didn;t even think

 me: she jumped up?

 *hannah*: she seriously ate half the plate in 2 minutes

  i have no idea

12:55 PM all i know is a came down and the plate was half empty

  it was actually sorta funny now that i think about it

  the vet gave her morphine to make her puke

  cause opiates are very strong emetics

12:56 PM but it also made her all goofy

 me: how is she feeling now?

 *hannah*: so at least i got the joy of watching her fall over

 me: i can imagine her face now

 *hannah*: tired

 me: take a video

 *hannah*: its much better

  sorry you missed it

  she tried to scratch her ear and instead fell over

  then she looked at me all confused like, how did i get here?

12:57 PM and the whole walk back she was walking like she was drunk

 me: hahhaaa

Singapore - my family

Mom, Dad,  sisters - Meow Lan, Gek Lan, brother-in-law- Zhiwei (Simon), nephews and nieces - Kevin, Jared, Yingen, Yingtong, Yinghao.

Singapore - last day!

Singapore is not only a multi-cultural country, but even within a single culture, there are different dialects. For example, within the Chinese race, there are the Teochews, the Cantonese, the Hakkas, the Hokkiens etc. So each dialect, even though they may have the same food, they are prepared slightly different.

This morning we had Hakka Niang tofu. I had the Teochew style Niang tofu the other day, but the Hakka Niang tofu is different and is well-known for their full-bodied fried tofu.

Hakka style Niang tofu

Oh yes... I also brought coffee to go... the Singapore way! :D

Coffee to go..Singapore style

Singapore - Day 9

Breakfast was with my dad today. Dad placed a lot of emphasis on breakfast (Chinese style). As a result, breakfast was rice (not surprising) with pig liver, pig kidney and pig's tail in a soup. Boiled peanuts and salted vegetables were served as side dishes.

Pig liver, pig kidney and pig tail
with boiled peanuts

We had a quick lunch before I brought my nephews to Bugis Junction shopping mall (which is 5 minutes away from my mom's house) to play games in the arcade. Lunch was chicken rice and "popiah". Popiah is a snack in which cooked turnip, cabbages, various vegetables, eggs, peanuts, prawn sauce, bean sprout, prawns etc rolled together using paper-thin popiah skin. Kevin and Jared (my nephews) also had a can of "kickapoo" - a very sweet, highly carbonated soda.

Popiah

Kickapoo

 Dinner was at home, followed shortly by a simple birthday celebration for Jared and I. Jared's birthday is on September 15th 2002. We had a delicious chocolate cake from "Awfully chocolate".

Singapore - Day 8

Day 8 started with Roti Prata - an Indian dish which is plain flour (roti prata kosong) or with egg (roti prata with telok). It is a very simple dish which essentially is just lightly pan-fried flour. However, even though it is simple, in order to make a delicious roti prata, it is a demonstration of cooking and acrobatic skills by the cook. Roti prata is usually eaten with chicken curry or fish curry.

Roti Prata with chicken curry

I had brunch (combination of lunch and breakfast) with a primary school friend - Pauline Ang and her kid. We had tim sum once again (this time in Holland village)!.... She ordered century egg porridge for me. And once again, I couldn't finish all the food. There was carrot cake, bao, glutinous rice wrapped in lotus leaves, dumplings etc. It was great to talk to Pauline and see what she has been up to after all these years. I haven't seen her since our primary school days. She insisted that we were school mates in junior college, but I hardly remember I seen her in school. Maybe I was skipping classes so often during junior college that I was barely in school!

Pauline

tim sum

On my way back home, I noticed that there was a foot reflexology place in the same block as my mom's home. Years ago, when I first recommended Hannah to foot reflexology, she was a bit skeptical. However, since the first time an old man massaged her feet with all his brute force, she has always wanted to have more foot reflexology treatment :). It is really that good and addictive!

Foot reflexology

The night winded down with dinner and drink at "Brotzeit"... a newly opened German restaurant in town. We had a couple of beer. The highlight of the evening was the pig knuckles, prepared German style! The skin was deep fried until it is crispy, but the inside is tender. The pig knuckles definitely goes well with beer. Germans do know their beer :).

Pig knuckles

Singapore - Day 7

Day 7 was a more "relax" day for my stomach. Lunch was with my mom and sister in town. We went to pick up my nephews from their Chinese language tuition, after which we headed over to the nearest food court call "The Canteen" to have lunch.I ordered Mee Siam, which a Malay dish consist of thin rice-noodles, eggs, tofu, prawns and vegetables in a sweet-spicy broth.

Nephews - Kevin and Jared

Mee Siam

Dinner was with an old working colleagues, Mun Chong and his wife, Candy. Dinner was at Teochew restaurant. The interesting part of the night was having a drink at the Siloso beach at Sentosa. Sentosa is a island south of Singapore. There are various ways of getting into the island - monorail, cars, cable car, and ferry. It is a tourist attraction with Universal Studios, casino, and numerous beach pubs. Unfortunately, my camera is not suitable to take pictures under low-light conditions, thus, there are not many photos showing the nice settings on the beach. On a lighter note, Mun Chong's son is a great fan of naruto (Hannah would know exactly what it is :P)..look at his self-made naruto fan t-shirt!

Cabbage, mushroom room at Teochew restaurant

Beach pub at Sentosa

Number 1 Naruto fan

How well do you know your Singlish?

One of the comments I get from all the friends I met here was "My Singlish is so poor lah!" So I thought I should give tribute to something which is uniquely Singapore... the Singlish language. Unfortunately, I have no idea where to start. So after looking on the Internet for a while, I borrow from a post from this website http://sotongs.tripod.com/singlish.html.


English is widely spoken in Singapore ... or it is? Many first-time visitors have been confounded by the colloquialisms that pepper Singaporeans' speech. This is because we speak very quickly (or so it's been said) and with a distinct Singaporean accent. Through the years, Singaporeans have developed their own brand of English fondly referred to as 'Singlish'.
With our multi-racial background, it's not surprising that 'Singlish' borrows from the many different languages spoken in Singapore. Here's a collection of 'Singlish' terms which you might find handy on your visit to Singapore.


Action (verb)
Derived from the English language meaning to show off. 
Example: That fellow always like to action, walking around with his Rolex over his shirt sleeves.


Arrow (verb)
Derived from the English language meaning to be given a task that you don't want to do. 
Example: I was arrowed to paint this wall.


Blur (adj)
Derived from the English language meaning does not know what is going on. 
Example: He hasn't read up on the background to this project and was very blur at the meeting.


Boh-Chup (adj)
Derived from the Hokkien dialect meaning couldn't care less. 
Example: Ah, boh-chup, I'm not going to hand in my assignment


Chim (adj)
Pronounced 'cheem'. 
Derived from the Hokkien dialect meaning profound. 
Example: The professor's lecture was very chim.


Chope (verb)
Derived from the English language meaning to reserve. 
Example: It's free seating at the concert, we need to get there early to chope seats for our group.


Gostun (verb) 
Derived from the English language (go stern) meaning to reverse. 
Example: He overshot the turning so had to gostun back up the road.


Havoc (adj)
Derived from the English language meaning wild and uncontrollable. 
Example: That person is very havoc, always out late every night.


Kayu (adj)
Pronounced 'kah-yoo'. 
Derived from the Malay language meaning dumb or stupid. 
Example: How come he is so kayu? Teach him so many times and he still cannot do it.


Kiasu (adj)
Pronounced 'kee-a-soo'. 
Derived from the Hokkien dialect meaning afraid to lose out to others or not to lose face. 
Example: He sent his family to line up in different queues for the same item, so kiasu.


Lah
The most famous of Singaporean expressions used at the end of sentences for emphasis. 
Example: Very funny, lah!


Langgar (verb)
Derived from the Malay language meaning to collide. 
Example: This van suddenly pulled out and langgar my car.


Obiang (adj)
Derived from the Hokkien dialect meaning ugly or outdated. 
Example: This dress is so obiang! Who is going to buy it?


Pai seh (adj)
Pronounced 'pie-say'. 
Derived from the Hokkien dialect meaning embarrassed or shy.
Example: That's the third time I've forgotten her name. So pai seh.


Shiok (adj)
Pronounced 'shee-oak'
Derived from the Malay language (Straits Chinese) meaning fantastic or marvellous. 
Example: That prawn mee soup was shiok!"


Skarly
A word meaning suddenly. 
Example: "I was about to make a right turn. Skarly this car appears from nowhere and nearly langgar me!"


Solid (adj)
Derived from the English language meaning great or superb. 
Example: Did you see how he scored the goal? Solid, man!


Sotong (adj)
Derived from the Malay language meaning does not know what is going on. Similar meaning to 'blur'. (Sotong is the Malay word for octopus which squirts ink and clouds everything.) 
Example: This has been going on for months, didn't you know? Sotong!


Suaku (noun)
Pronounced 'soo-ah-koo'. 
Derived from the Hokkien dialect meaning country bumpkin. 
Example: Don't be so suaku lah, don't you know what a VCD player is?


Terok (adj)
Derived from the Malay language meaning troublesome or difficult. 
Example: That customer was very terok.


Tompang (verb)
Pronounced 'tome-pang'. 
Derived from the Malay language meaning to ride on or request a favour. 
Example: You're going to the post office? Can I tompang some letters to be mailed?


Ulu (adj)
Pronounced 'oo-loo'. 
Derived from Malay language meaning rural or a deserted place. 
Example: This place is so ulu, you hardly see a single soul around even on weekends.


Ya Ya (adj)
An expression meaning boastful or arrogant. 
Example: Wah, he's so ya ya. 

A tribute to the original Singaporeans

This trip back to Singapore certainly puts a different perspective to the way I view the country and the locals (which definitely also includes me!). According to statistics, the current population of Singapore is 5.07 million, living in an area size of 712.4 Sq km.The ratio of locals to the expats/ foreigners are about 1:1! It is getting harder and harder to spot a original Singaporean in the public! Foreigners, permanent residents and tourists coming from China, Philippines, Europe, USA, Taiwan, Indonesia are swarming around in public areas.

There are 5 "k"s that describe the typical Singaporean - kiasu (afraid to lose to others), kiasi (afraid to die), kekian (show off), kiamsie (stingy) and kaypo (busybody)!.... Everywhere you go, if you see a Singaporean, he/she exhibits at least one or more of these character! I think if you looked hard enough, there should be t-shirts explaining about these 5 ks in Singapore!

Kiasu is typical character of a die-hard Singaporean. If you have a HDTV, I need a HDTV as well. If you have a iphone 3, I need a iphone 4! Singaporeans cannot lose to each other, not to mention to foreigners! If you travel in the subways, buses, you will notice that everyone, including a 60-year old grandma is using some sort of advance technology instrument. Grandma has weak eyesight, so cannot see clearly the Apps on the iphone... the solution - an ipad!

Kiasi is also another strong trait of a typical Singaporean. You will hardly see a Singaporean jumping into the river to save another life, but you will probably see a bunch of people standing by the river. There was a joke in Singapore - how many people does it take to save a drowning guy? 10... 9 to give instructions, one to call the cops!

Kekian, and kiamsie, ironically goes hand in hand. Singaporeans are stingy... they will not spend an additional $1 just to get something they feel they are get cheaper elsewhere. However, when it comes to the need to exhibit their wealth - Gucci, LV, Rolex, BMW, Mercedes... there is no holds-bar!

Finally Kaypo is an important trait that keeps our society alive! With 5 million people living is an area of only 700Sq km, there are numerous chances of crimes etc. It is this characteristic of kaypo which is practised by your neighbors that prevented numerous break-ins and other crimes. Thus, crime rates in Singapore is one of the lowest in the world - 650 per 100,000 population. With everyone having a mobile phone, some even have two (there are 1436 mobile phones per 1000 population!), crimes are reported almost instantly, thus giving these criminals a hard time!

Singaporeans LOVE to queue. They queue for transport, queue for food, queue for openings and queue for sales! There are different types of queues (queues for multiple persons, queues for single person etc) but everyone obeys the unwritten rules... DO NOT cut the queues!. Unless you want tens of people staring at you and shouting at you for breaking this unwritten rule, I advise you not to even remotely think about it.

Singaporeans... I love thee...

Singapore - Day 6

The heat and amount of food is finally get to me! I am starting to experience a bit of soreness in my throat, and I always feel that I am so full! Well, my parents DO NOT think so...they still feel I am too skinny. So for breakfast, they thought I needed a whole bowl of "lo mee". Lo mee is a dish with a mix of egg noodles, eggs, meat, vegetables cooked in a thick, sweet sauce. Usually it is eaten with a touch of vinegar to enhance the flavor.

Lo mee

My sister and I brought my two nephews to their creative writing class. While they were in class, we took the opportunity to talk about family affairs etc. I am really proud of my sister for doing such a good job with my nephews. It is definitely an accomplishment to raise two naughty boys as a single parent.

I decided I need to give my digestive system a chance to recuperate. Therefore, I only have "tim sum" for lunch. Tim sum is a famous way of eating in the Cantonese society. There are numerous dishes such as chicken feet (again!?... see how popular this dish is!), dumpling, chee-chong-fun, bao from. These dishes are usually served in bamboo containers. I chose chee-chong-fun and dumplings. Chee-chong-fun is made of small pieces of meat and vegetables wrap is rice sheets, and steamed to tenderness. Tim sum dumplings are slightly different from the won tong dumplings. Tim sum dumplings are made of a mix of minced pork , vegetable, and various spices and held together by egg wraps. Again, it is steamed to ensure the final dish is tender and tasty.

Tim sum - dumplings
and chee-chong -fun

H&M opened a new branch in Singapore today. I stumbled upon the opening while I went to town to look for Linda. It would be an understatement to say that Singaporeans are crazy about opening events! There was not one queue but two queues trying to get into the H&M store! The queues not only double but tripled around. There were even rumours that some people started joining the queue as early as the previous night! And there wasn't even an opening sale!

Long queues at H&M opening day 

We had dinner at Linda and Francis's place. I had heard rumors that Francis is an excellent cook. Dinner was great and I can confirmed the rumours were true. The dishes for the night started with a medium-raw steak cooked in rosemary sauce, vegetable pasta and pear salad marinated in orange juice. Francis is a vegetarian and I am really grateful that he spend the time to cook steak for me! Dessert was strawberry cupcake, dark chocolate cake, and chocolate-caramel cake from another newly opened store - Antoinette. And as all Asian traditions, dinner is not complete without the final serving of the king of fruits - Durian! According to a lot of "ang mo" (Caucasian), durian smells like seweage, and taste like custard! Well, Asians knows best...thus making durians the king of fruits! The smell is so strong that durains are not allowed in hotels, subways and airlines! We spend the rest of the night drinking red wine (which is from NZ!), talking about meditation, and life in general. It was a great way to wind down the night.... (Hannah, you will love their house! There is even a walk-in closet for shoes and clothes!... We have a chinese-style bed for us to stay overnight when we visit during Chinese New Year)

Durian!

Singapore - Day 5

The morning started with breakfast at the market we have been going to for the past 5 days. There are so many stores at the market that it is impossible to sample all the food in just 2 weeks. Breakfast is INTERESTING! We had "wan tong" (dumplings) noodles. However, since I only visit Singapore once in a blue moon, mom thought that I should try the wan tong noodle "special" It is dumplings noodles with an extra twist - chicken feet. This is DEFINITELY NOT Hannah's favorite from what I can recall. She just couldn't bare the thought of eating feet! In Singapore, chicken feet, which is commonly call the "Phoenix claw" is a local delicacy.

Wan tong noodles

Phoenix claws aka chicken feet

After breakfast, I was in charge of supervising the nephews - Kevin and Jared for their weekly piano lesson. I had lunch with my youngest sister after that. It was in Chinatown, and just mentioning the word "Chinatown" made Singapore temperature raise another 2 degree Celsius! It is VERY WARM in Chinatown due to the way the buildings are built around each other, and of course, due to the number of people packed in a small hawker center. It is the Lunar Mooncake festival next week, and Chinatown is even more crowded now.

If you can withstand the heat from the hawker center, it is definitely worth it. Food at the Chinatown hawker center are well-known to be cheap and delicious. We had Ipoh crayfish hor fun (white broad noodle) for lunch. There is really no word to describe this heavenly dish! The queue at this store was a 30-minutes wait! The Ipoh hor fun taste great with crystanmum tea in a can :)

Ipoh crayfish hor fun
with crystanmum tea in a can

After lunch, we decided to go for coffee so that we can talk in a quiet and comfortable environment. We found a modern-traditional coffee shop. It is a modern cafe which is renovated to look like a traditional coffee shop serving coffee, tea and other light snacks in traditional ways.

Traditional coffee

Dinner was a huge event with Alfred and Cheryl (his wife). We went to Whampoa hawker center. We ordered a couple of local dishes to sample - fried Hokkien noodle, satay bee hoon, rojak, wu-xiang (fried sausages and tofu) and again, sugar cane juice! Rojak is my favorite local food which is made of century-egg, tofu, cuttlefish, cucumber, pineapple and various other fruits and vegetables mixed in a sweet, spicy prawn sauce. Sesame seeds are then sprinkled on top of the mix to make this dish explode with tons of different tastes in your mouth! This rojak in Whampoa hawker center is so good that the international movie star, Chow Yun-fat frequent this store when he is in town.

Alfred and Cheryl

Wu xiang

Rojak

Satay bee hoon

Ended the night with my good friend, Jeffery with a beer at the local pub. We spend a great time recapturing the good, old memories, discussing the present and looking forward to the future...

Jeffery and I

Singapore - Day 4

(Hannah, this is specially for you!) Since my dad had an accident 2 years ago, he is experiencing difficulties in normal daily activities such as walking up and down the stairs, walking swiftly across the road etc. One of the activities that he is experiencing most difficulty was the use of our toilet. It used to be a squatting toilet instead of a seated toilet. Not many people (including Hannah :)  ) like the use of squatting toilets! Hannah even broke the flushing system the last time she was here in Singapore.... I think it was a traumatic experience for her! Anyway, we have "upgraded" the toilet and now we have a spanking, seating, easy-to-flush toilet! Yay!

New improved toilet 

Toady, I decided to stay at home and spend time with my parents and the nephews. Of course, when I stayed at home, most of the time was spend listening to complaints from mom and dad. My dad was complaining that I looked too skinny (nothing new!) and I have forgotten the Teochew language. Thus, he took upon his mission to re-teach me the lost-mother-tongue-of-Teochew. He tested me on Teochew language on every single items, from food to daily items.

I had fried carrot-cake with mom for breakfast. If you are drooling over it - it is NOT the type of carrot cake you are thinking about! It is actually a "cake" that is made of tulips, eggs and flour. It is then mix together and fried to taste good! It can be fried with dark, sweet sauce (dark carrot cake) or with the sweet sauce (white carrot cake).

Fried carrot cake

Lunch was with my dad, and we had "Kuay Chap". It is a dish with is made of parts of the pig such as intestine, skin, meat etc, and serve with broad, white noodles.The whole dish is cooked in soya sauce until it taste really good. The "spare-parts" of the pigs do not taste raw since they were cooked in soya sauce. However, care must be taken to ensure they are not over-cooked, or they will not be chewy.

Kuay Chap

Finally, dinner was at home. Mom cooked two of my favorite dishes - "Ba Kut Teh" and steamed pomfret. Ba Kut Teh is a soup which pork ribs were boiled with a various spices. It was left to slow-cooked on the stove for a whole day, making the meat from the ribs soft and full of flavor. The soup is a bit spicy but not over tongue burning. On the other hand, steamed fish is a very simple dish... pomfret fish steamed with tomatoes, ginger, soya sauce. Light and tasty.

Ba  Kut Teh and steam pomfret

 The evening was spend at home watching tv programs. The numerous new chinese-kung-fu-fighting-serial-drama-shows was a favourite with Hannah when she was her in Singapore the last time.