hup leong porridge stall

there is this teochew porridge stall to which i have been a regular customer since its days at owen road. at one time owen road was the place you went for teochew porridge. there were a number of porridge stalls and you could enjoy your porridge seated at tables set up along the back lane, next to the farrer park stadium.

although porridge is supposed to be a poor man's sustenance, you would find big and expensive cars parked along the roadside and the rich towkays tucking in into the steaming bowls of porridge at these stalls. if i remember correctly, the member of parliament for that area, dr lee chiaw meng, would stop to eat porridge at one of these stalls during his walkabouts.

then the stall shifted to dunlop street. i think it was at the junction of dunlop street and perak road for around ten years. we could tell it was the same porridge stall because the people manning the place were the same people as those who had been at owen road.

today, it is located at the junction of sam leong road and jalan besar. two of the men who used to serve behind the counter are no longer working at hup leong.

i like the preserved salted vegetable (chye buay), the dried shrimp sambal chilli (hae bee hiam), chicken feet and tau kee(dried bean stick), sambal fish, steamed fish, sliced duck meat and pork meat balls.

jalan berseh food centre - lesser known fc (1)

i think i am going to start a series on the smaller and lesser known food centres in singapore. practically everybody has heard of newton, maxwell, old airport, east coast, chomp chomp and lau par sat, but how many know of the existence of jalan berseh food centre.

this food centre is located on jalan besar road, opposite rowell road and desker road. if you are travelling down jalan besar towards sim lim square, it is just before kelantan lane.

there are a few stalls selling turtle soup. the one that is popular is very lucky turtle soup. besides turtle soup, it also sells black chicken soup.

there is this popiah stall that has been around for decades. it is ping ji bao bing on level 1. if it can survive competition for twenty years, then it must have some good stuff.

another well-rated stall here is soon kit which sells curry fish head, claypot assam fish and claypot soya sauce fish head.

there is one stall on level 2 that has received a three pairs of chopsticks rating from makansutra. it is a stall that sells teochew delicacies. it is the lao liang pig trotters and shark's meat stall. across it is another popular turtle soup stall.

you can park along the side roads, syed alwi and jalan berseh. there is also parking space along rowell road.

your own plot of land to grow vegetables








how wonderful to have a small plot of land to grow your own vegetables and plants! at my place, there is this small group of senior citizens who have illegally carved out a small plot of land beside the pang sua pond to grow long beans, sweet potatoes, spinach and some flowering plants.

i have several words to describe them: practical, purposeful, enterprising, resourceful and creative. i think basically they are trying to relive the good old days when they farmed the land at zhenghua, chua chu kang or lim chu kang. or they just like to work the earth and be close to nature. it's something worthwhile and it keeps them occupied.

this group has set up some make-shift benches or stools near the site where they are growing vegetables. they have even two big drums to hold water for watering the plants. but i have yet to see them at work though their produce is there for all to see. you can tell that they are experienced planters because the plants are flourishing.

i do not mind having a small plot where i can till the land and tend to the plants.

marathon mahjong session

i think quite a number of us, especially those who are chinese, have gone through this phase in life. we get a kick out of playing mahjong and sometimes want the session to go on and on. when you are younger, with the stamina on your side and the couldn't care less attitude with regard to your own health, you can really stay the course. we once started playing on a friday evening and ended the session on sunday evening. of course, in between we had toilet and food breaks.

i usually win at mahjong, provided the session is not a long-drawn one. no, it is not because i can play well; it is because of the strategy that i use. i play to 'game', to win. i am not bothered by whether i win big or win small, so long as i win the game. so, i win more than i lose but my winnings are nothing to crow about.

but i cannot concentrate for long. if the game goes on for than three rounds, i will start to become erratic in my play, miss a tile or two and i will end up playing just to finish, with no chance of winning that hand.

i have some close friends who do welcome me to join in their game. these friends are advanced players. they take their game very seriously. they cannot tolerate my frivolous way of playing mahjong.

they are so good at it that they can infer what tiles are needed by the other players. they can infer the contents within the opponents' hands. they can infer which tiles will be held and not discarded by the other players. they can also infer which tiles are likely to be discarded later.
most of the time, their inferences are right.

in my family of four, my wife is the only non-mahjong player.

can you win at gambling?

if luck is on your side and you have the discipline, it is possible to win. you must be resolute enough to quit when you are ahead. you need to employ the hit and run tactic. when you make a hit, you run. you go somewhere else for a while. it will be wise to go and spend some of your winnings.

when you gamble, you must be prepared for one thing. be prepared to lose. set aside the amount you are prepared to lose before you start playing. also set yourself a realistic target. once you reach the target, you must have the discipline to stop playing. one of the chief causes of losing is greed. you have made this much and you start to dream of making even more. that is when you risk losing what you have gained and more.

i remember a trip we made to genting highlands many years ago. we are what you would call 'recreational gamblers'. we played the slot machines. we played using coins only. but that time we won enough to cover the cost of our trip and with some leftover to give ourselves a treat.

it could be beginner's luck. we were so naive that we did not know that the machine only paid out some of the winning, when the winning was a big one; the rest you had to collect from the counter. we lined up three watermelons in a row a few times but the biggest payout was when we had three 7s in a row.

because hady won, i am 500....richer


just for fun, i placed a bet with the same friend who lost some money to me last year. if winning was to be based on talent, look and personality i would have picked jonathan leong to win the singapore idol 2006 title. but because the winner was to be decided by viewers and supporters' votes, i made hady mirza my choice.

hady had the strong support of his own community. jonathan had his own league of supporters and fans but, i believe, they were not as fanatical as hady's. whereas each of hady's supporters would have cast 20 votes, each of jonathan's might have cast just 2 or 3 votes.

i did not follow this series as closely as i had followed the first singapore idol contest. the reason is that my daughter's interest in the show has waned. in fact, we watched only the beginning - the first audition - and the end, the grand final. all those in between, we skipped.

last year, i voted for taufiq. i think i endorsed my support for him 9 or 10 times by calling the telephone number. i had wanted taufiq to win because i did not like what i saw in sly.

anyway, i am richer by 500...cents, thanks to hady.

eating char kway teow at zion road




those days after drinking at apollo or kings, we would sometimes adjourned to the riverside zion road food centre for some makan and some more drinking. the seasoned beer drinkers are all the same; they will say that they will have just one more for the road but it is never one more. it is usually one and many more.

i am known to the group as the one-mug man. one mug is my limit. actually, i do not enjoy drinking beer. i drink because of the company. while they are drinking, i will be busy topping up the beer for them because i do not want them to replenish my mug. they know my style.

there were a few stalls that we used to patronise at zion road. the char kway teow with 'koo chye' was one of our regular orders. usual waiting time was about half an hour. the other stall from which we regularly ordered food was the cheng tng stall. it was a stall that practised self-service. we sometimes ate the sliced fish bee hoon from 28 seafood and fish stall.

the scenario was always the same. we were there ostensibly to satisfy our hunger but it would not be wrong to say that the main purpose was to continue drinking more beer. they would order two or three bottles, 'polished' them off in double quick time. then somebody would offer to buy everybody another round - two or three bottles - of beer. when they got 'high', they might go for another round.

one thing i credit them is that they know their limit; they know when to stop ordering and drinking.

throwing caution to the wind

when my last blood test results showed that my blood cholesterol, blood sugar and triglyceride levels were all in the good range and the heart specialist rescheduled my appointment to once in nine months, i decided to abandon my self-imposed restriction on food rich in saturated fat and cholesterol. i am back to indulging in food like kong bak pau, pig trotters and char kway teow.

yesterday, i decided to give myself a treat. went down to foch road to try the pig organs' soup that people are talking about. the shop is at the corner of beatty lane and foch road, just a stone throw from lavendar food court. had a bowl of soup minus the rice for $3.30. the stall also sells pig trotters in black vinegar. i was told you should try their meat balls.

the chilli sauce makes a big difference when it comes to eating 'tee huang kiam chye'. remember we used to go for it after our track and field committee meetings at bukit batok secondary many years ago. jim kee, the track and field adviser would treat us to pig organs' soup at this coffee shop at bukit batok avenue 4, near the bukit batok east community club.

ceo of ntuc income retiring at 58


what a coincidence! the chief executive of ntuc income, tan kin lian, is retiring at 58. i have written in to apply for optional retirement and if it is approved, i will also retire at 58. some may say 'what do you and he have in common?' or 'how can you compare yourself to a ceo?' like the chinese say "you want to compare leg hair with people?"

actually, we have a few things in common. we attended the same secondary school. then, he was living in a house about a kilometre from my kampong house. we were in the same secondary one class. he was my class monitor in secondary 1 b in raffles institution in 1962. the similarities end here.

he was one of the top students in the 1965 senior cambridge (today's equivalent is the gce o) cohort. he scored six points (6 A1s), a rare feat in those days while i managed 23 points. i learnt later that he left school after completing his senior cambridge to work because of financial circumstances. i went on to pursue my pre-university education but not at ri because i did not obtain a credit pass for my english language.

when you listen to the way he speaks on radio or tv, you find it hard to believe that he is a product of s'pore's premier school.

i remember him as a chubby boy who liked to read and who kept very much to himself. although he was the class monitor, he did not have an out-going type of personality.

fresh popiah skin

my wife has suggested that when i retire i should try my hand at making popiah skin. after the experiences we had at hup kiat at 22a havelock road and kway guan huat at 95 joo chiat road, i am quite determined to learn the art of making popiah skin. we had wanted to buy fresh popiah skin so badly as we were having a popiah party on the third day of the lunar new year. we literally begged them to sell us one kilogram of the skin but they would not budge. the one at havelock was arrogant and obviously did not believe in customer service.

the friendlier one is at 95 joo chiat. they also use the traditional method to turn out popiah skin. they also sell kueh pie tee shells. fresh skins are not cheap; they are sold at between $16 (plain flour)and $18(egg flour) for about 25 pieces/one kilogram. i understand they have a restaurant next door where you can try your hand at d-i-y popiahs.

there is yet another place where you can buy these fresh popiah skins. it is at jalan satu, near the old airport road food centre. again, it is better to place order in advance if you do not want to be disappointed, especially during the festive period when a lot of people eat/make popiahs.

we have a flat pan for doing the job. bought the pan from xiaman in china. the flat pan is quite similar to the one used for toasting roti prata. however, you do need deft hands to get the popiah skin right. i have watched how they do it at joo chiat. both hands have to work; the right hand to hold the sticky dough and swipe it on the surface of the pan and the left hand to scrape the popiah skin off the pan. all this is done within one minute.

teh alia or teh sarabat or ginger tea


yesterday, when i was at tekka centre, i went to sultan stall to drink tea alia. his teh alia at 70 cents a mug is still one of the cheapest and best. used to drink a lot with victor, iskandar, aman and seow teow seng when i was at monk's hill. incidentally, i noticed that many stalls, proclaiming to sell the best nasi bryani, have sprouted along that stretch.

teh alia or teh sarabat is similar to the indian teh masala. it is teh masala infused with ginger. i have tried my hand at concocting my own tea alia. the usual way of doing it is to peel the ginger root and slice it into thin slices. bring the water to a boil in a saucepan. once it is boiling, add the ginger. cover it and reduce to a simmer for 15-20 minutes. you use this ginger water to make your tea.

i do it in a slightly different way. i clean the ginger, remove the skin and blend the piece of rhizome in a blender. the ginger juice is collected and later added to the tea. to make the tea, i normally use the freeze-dried lipton tea granules, add condensed milk, then evaporated milk and finally, the ginger juice. if you like it sweet, you can use more condensed milk or add a teaspoonful of sugar.

a potent teh alia should leave a slight burning sensation in your throat and it should have this drying effect on your mouth so that you want to drink more of it. nowadays, you can buy the bottled dried form of ginger granules to add to your tea.

ice-cream man & tikam tikam

today i was assigned to relieve tini's mother tongue class. she had some work for her class of 35 to do - a comprehension exercise. as i handed out the worksheets, i tried reading the passage. with my limited malay, i managed to figure out that the passage was something about potong ice-cream. it brought back memories of my childhood days.

this kind and good-natured ice cream man would come around on his bicycle. the 'ring', 'ring' sound of his hand-bell in the afternoon announced his presence. he sold cut ice-cream held together by wafers or slices of bread. you could also have scoops in cones. i do not think there were many flavours. what drew us to his ice-cream bike was not so much the ware but the chance to win at a game of tikam tikam.

he had ten sticks with colour tips held in a small cylindrical holder. i think in the holder were five red tipped sticks and five blue tipped sticks. it was a very fair game. to win, you had to draw two different colour sticks each time, till you end up with five sets. alternatively, you could start with drawing a pair of the same colour. then, your subsequent pairs must be of the same colours. for example, if you started with two blue sticks, then your next draw must be either two blues or two reds.

i seemed to be lucky most of the times or maybe i was able to 'tell' the colour by feeling the stick because i won quite often. when you won, you would get your ice-cream and he would give you back the ten cents you paid earlier. he was a very fair man, always smiling, even when he did not get money/paid for the ice-cream.

success at last! - it slides off the pan


i have done it! i have finally succeeded in making my pizzas slide off the plates after they are baked. in the past, the pastry would stick to the plate and we would need something like a spatula to scrap it off the plate. these days, most of the pizzas slide off the plates after they have been taken out of the oven. the few that get stuck do not pose any big problem because they come unstuck rather easily. washing and cleaning the plates is also so much easier and faster.

how did i achieve this? i reduce the amount of yeast used for kneading the dough. also, i lengthen the waiting time for the dough to rise. instead of just going by the size of the dough, i leave it to rise for four to eight hours. the other thing that i do is to wipe the plate with olive oil. for that matter, any type of edible oil will do.

from each portion that i knead, i am able to make about 24 pizzas. this time, with one and a half portions, i managed 44 pizzas. the pastry is thinner but it did not tear or break, unlike previous lot of pastry. i have ever made nearly 100 pizzas at one sitting - which meant sitting around for nearly the whole day.

depending on the toppings, pizzas provide a high carbohydrate and relatively low fat meal compared with other family favourites such as, steak pie, fish fingers or curry. what is more, pizzas have a layer of cooked tomato, which is a good source of the antioxidant lycopene and the flour used to create the base is fortified with calcium.

xiao long bao - which restaurant in s'pore serves the best


i have eaten xiao long pau at many places: din tai fung at paragon; crystal jade at holland village; lao beijing at novena square; cheng li yuan at tanjong pagar; nanxiang steamed bun restaurant at parco bugis, eastern restaurant at centrepoint and a little known restaurant at jalan leban, off upper thomson road.

in my opinion, it is a close fight between din tai fung and crystal jade. a good xiao long pau must have a thin skin which does not break when pressure is applied to it. like pizzas and roti prata, xiao long pau or pork dumplings with soup are best enjoyed when they are hot. if it is allowed to cool, the soup will be absorbed by the skin.

just as you have sashimi with wasabi, you have xiao long pau with strips of ginger soaked in vinegar. i will usually make a small opening at the top of the bun with a chopstick and then try and stuff the ginger strips into the bun.

xiao long pau are traditionally steamed in a bamboo basket. at crystal jade, you pay $3.20 for a basket of four dumplings while at din tai fung, they charge $5.80 for half a dozen dumplings.

motion sickess is no fun

when i was young, i dreaded going on long trips, especially rides in overcrowded buses. i was not so apprehensive when it came to travelling in a car. somehow, a car ride would be more pleasant as i did not always end up feeling dizzy or wanting to vomit. however, bus rides, boat trips and, in later years, flights in a plane always seemed to cause the stomach to churn.

i can recall a particular bad trip, when we were heading for tioman in a bumboat. the ride was about four hours but seemed like eternity. because of the rough sea condition, we were literally tossing and turning in the boat. it did not help where we sat, whether it was at the bow or the stern or on the roof of the boat. of the fourteen of us, with the exception of one, all threw up either in the boat or into the sea.

another bad memory is the time i took a spin in a helicopter followed immediately by a ride in a shotover jet boat in queenstown, new zealand. the effect was so bad that i stretched myself on the road, facing skywards, and stayed in that position until i was steady enough to get up and walk back to the hotel.

when i took my first plane ride, i felt queasy during the trip and also at the end of it. it was worse when the plane hit air pockets and there was turbulence. now, you understand why young children, especially babies, always cry just before the plane is about to touch down.

how to avoid motion sickness:

always sit facing forward. don't face backward in your seat or sit in a seat that faces backward. sitting forward helps keep the motion sensed by your eyes and ears the same.

examine the great outdoors. look outside. from inside a car or bus, look at stuff far away, like the house up ahead or a mountain. if you are seasick on a boat, go to the top deck (in the middle of the boat) and look far out into the horizon - where the sea and sky meet. on an airplane, try looking out the window. this way, your eyes will not be fooled into thinking you are not moving when you actually are.

get to the middle of things. whatever you are riding in, find the place with the least amount of movement. this means sitting closer to the centre of a plane (in the aisle seats over the wings) or in the middle of a boat - rather than at the sides or the front, where you're more likely to feel seasick.

another way to avoid this unpleasant feeling is to take an anti-motion sickness tablet or medication an hour before the start of a journey.

teochew cuisine restaurant at bt batok ave 6


the internet is such a wonderful resource of information and ideas. the other day while searching on the web for a stall that sells jellied trotters and shark's meat at jalan berseh food centre, i came across this blog in which the writer extols good food. she mentioned a teochew restaurant in bukit batok that dishes out some wonderful teochew dishes including jellied shark's meat.

the teochew cuisine restaurant is located at blk 132 bukit batok avenue 6. i went with daniel to the restaurant today; it being one of the rare times when we could leave the school at around lunch time. tried the teochew imperial set and the steamed baby squids with wasabi sauce. the imperial set was superb and the squids was something different, a novelty.

the place is air-conditioned and it is open 24 hours, 7 days a week. the restaurant caters to people who go for hawker type of food as well as those who are more discerning in their taste. the restaurant sells kway chap and fish porridge. at the same time, they also have dishes that contain abalone, scallop and shark's fin. the oh nee at $2.80 is value for money.

the chef was specially brought in from chaochow in china. most of the workers seem to be from mainland china.

i like 'giving' a treat to daniel as he will invariably insist on paying the bill. so, whenever i want a free makan, i will offer to give him a treat.

canoeing or kayaking available to members of the public at macritchie



do you know that you can rent a kayak or canoe at the macritchie reservoir? this is part of pub's initiative of having more recreational activities at the reservoir. the paddle lodge at macritchie is a pilot project by pub and scf (singapore canoe federation).

the lodge or kayaking centre has kayaks for people of varying skill levels, from sit-on-top kayaks for first timers to recreational kayaks for those with one-star certification. the paddle lodge is open from tuesday to sunday, from 9.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m.

the rental rate for sit-on-top kayak is $10 per hour. for recreational kayak, the rate is $15 for 2 hours. you need a proficiency certificate to rent the recreational kayaks. for safety reasons, a minimum of two rental kayaks must be on the water at any one time. there are designated areas for novices and experienced paddlers. the competition area is out of bounds when a training session is in progress.

this afternoon, i came across quite a number of families having a picnic by the gentle sloping bank of the reservoir and saw young fathers giving their children instructions in kayaking.

when i was at monk's hill, i used to spend thursday afternoons canoeing at macritchie. i introduced canoeing as a cca and the school bought ten double and two single-seater canoes. these were stored at the shed at macritchie.

of prostitutes & masseurs




i remember my first trip to bangkok. i was on my own. as i was not familiar with the city, i booked a taxi for the whole day. the taxi driver naturally asked me if i needed female company. i declined his offer of taking me to a massage parlour and other related establishments.

in singapore, i have been to desker road, flanders square, keong saik street, geylang and orchard towers but i have never entertained thoughts of satisfying my desires with any of these sex workers.

a few years ago, i was in bangkok with a school group. one evening, two of us engaged the services of two traditional thai masseurs. we paid 300 bahts for the two-hour session. we were stripped down to our underwear and had to change into some loose clothing.

the lady masseurs were skilful, applying the right pressure at the appropriate places. when they worked our groin areas, i noticed that my friend's pole was holding up the 'tent'. although i felt good, it did not have the same effect on me. could it be that he was much younger? or was it something to do with my libido?

another time, we were in hat yai in southern thailand, this friend booked a prostitute for a few hours. we were there with him when he did the selection. the girl was so attractive, she could have passed off as a leading actress.

sometimes i ask myself why i am not tempted. had i been better endowed, would i have been tempted? would i succumb to this kind of temptation?

highest railway station - jungfraujoch


when we took the cogwheel train to jungfraujoch in switzerland in june 2002, we mistakenly believed that we had been to the highest railway station in the world. it is actually the highest railway station in europe.

there was so much snow at jungfraujoch, even in summer, that ivy could make a penguin and ida, a snow woman. the snow was white and dazzling. then, i understood why people wear sun glasses in the mountains. we also visited the ice palace. we saw quite a number of indian tourists from india at jungfraujoch.

today, the honour of the highest railway station in the world goes to the tangula station in tibet, which stands at 5068m above sea level. the second highest is the galera station in peru, at 4781m. in india, the ghoom station in the darjeeling mountains is about 2258m above sea level.

for the record, jungfraujoch is 3454m above sea level.

scs-run for hope - 17 sept 2006 @ tanjong beach




the terry fox run has a change of name. it is now known as the run for hope. the reason for the change: to stress the importance of instilling hope for cancer patients. all donations will be donated to the singapore cancer society for cancer research.

i went down to regent hotel to register today. this year, instead of a wrist number tag which served as an admission ticket to sentosa, they gave each participant a wrist band. when i first joined, i think the registration fee was $10. subsequently, it went up to $15 and then, $20. this year, the registration fee for an adult is $25.

checked with my friend gan to find out if he would be there. he said he had been too busy to get down to register. anyway, he messaged me to let me know that he would be there on sunday. when i was in monk's hill, i managed to get soo chin and her brood of nieces to join in.

as in previous years, i will drive and pay the $2 for parking. i usually park at the gateway carpark and walk to the starting point. i have always taken part in the 5km fun run which is more a walk than a jog or a run.

i started taking part in the terry fox run in 1994, one year after the inaugural run in singapore. i go back year after year because it is for a good cause and you meet people who are in it not for any competition but who do it because they have been inspired by the heroic act of this young canadian.

i parked at seah imm road and took the shuttle bus to tanjong beach. as it was drizzling, i took shelter under the tent. met up with chin kai. ran together for some distance before asking him to go ahead as i could not keep up with his pace. took the yellow line to departure centre and then transferred to the harbour front/mrt bus. had roti prata breakfast at the food centre.

a genuine toy poodle, a daschund and a pomeranian

this is the third dog since we started living in this flat at jelapang. the present dog is a genuine toy poodle, yes, a pedigree. it is called tammy. it was given to us by a friend who had bought it for $850. do not be deceived by its size, it is no puppy. it gave birth to a single male which has since passed away because of kidney failure.

much as i do not welcome the dog because of the extra cleaning up that i have to do sometimes, i still find it useful having it in the flat. when my daughter is left alone at home, the dog is there to keep her company and to offer some form of security and protection. whenever someone walks past the flat or comes to the door, it will bark.

we had another poodle before tammy. i paid about the same amount of money for it. we named it pingyi. we did not, and still do not, take our dogs out for walks. pingyi never went out of the flat on its own but the only time it did, when my colleagues came to visit, it never returned. we pasted notices outside lift doors in the neighbouring blocks but it did not yield anything except for a scribbled response on one of the notices - "already cooked".

before pingyi, we had another small dog called maison. maison was a cross between a pomeranian and a terrier. it was quite a noisy and active dog. maison was also a gift from a friend. it came with a certificate and some papers. we had maison since we were living at towner road. it stayed with us until it had to be put to sleep because of old age. it was going blind and all its faculties were failing.

i had another small dog when we were living in a kampong. it was a daschund called liberty. what an ironic name! liberty never had much freedom. it was leashed to a guava tree most of the time. that black daschund was given to us by a relative.

i am a terrorist - i terrorise the dog. the poor dog will not step across the threhold of the kitchen when i am in the living room. when i am out of sight, it can even make its way to the rooms upstairs. one moment. it may be playing happily in the living room but the next moment, when it hears my voice, it will dash into the kitchen.

dad's taxi

it started with ivy. i had to fetch her at odd hours. when she was with the singapore youth choir and had practices at yms at waterloo street, i would have to wait for her until her practices ended, which would normally be 11 p.m. but sometimes, they dragged on to close to mid-night. then when she had recording/taping sessions at victoria concert hall, the waiting could go on till 2 a.m.

nowadays, ida is the passenger. i have to drive her to bukit batok's westmall at close to midnight and then go and pick her at around 6.00 a.m. in the morning. this happens during the weekends and on school holidays. she goes there to study at the 24-hour macdonald's outlet with her former classmate.

there were those times when i had to drive ivy to thomson plaza and some years later, to fort canning for her ballet lessons. when ida was in a primary school, i had to drive her to toa payoh and later, to crawford lane, for her chinese tuition.

in the mornings, i give ida a lift to school. have to get her up from bed and to hurry her along and still end up reaching my work place past 7.05 a.m.

all these sacrifices - sacrifing sleep, especially - are well worth it because my daughters appreciate and love me for what i have done and am still doing.

liaison officer for the cambodian vice minister of education mom chim huy

shah's appointment as liaison officer for the libyan minister reminds me of my own experience as liaison officer for the cambodian vice minister of education at the seameo conference more than ten years ago.

my involvement in this came about because my friends at ccab were in charge of nominating the liaison officers. two officers were assigned to each country. there were two delegates from each country. apart from the vice minister, there was another member, mr roath kim soeun. his appointment was deputy chief of cabinet, chief of external relations, ministry of education.

i was at the airport vip lounge to receive them, together with the then director of schools, mr wee heng tin. i rode with the delegates in the chauffeured driven car to their hotel located along orchard road. after settling them, i made arrangement to take them shopping in the evening. my fellow liaison officer, who was not available earlier, would join us for the shopping trip.

the conference was held at the shangrila hotel. we had to be around all the time in case help or assistance was needed. the cambodian team needed quite a lot of help because of the language used for the presentation. they were more fluent in french than in english. we ended up writing and editing the speech for them.

at the end of the conference, the cambodian team stayed on for one more day. we took them sightseeing and also gave them an insight into the typical abode of a singaporean. i took them to my humble hdb flat.

we were given an allowance for our duty as liaison officers. but we gained more from getting to know our neighbours better and by building a bond with them. i still have the memento which they gave to each of us.

impressing your friends with home cooked stuff

you do not have to be a great cook to whip up good and authentic local dishes like laksa, mee siam, chicken rice, chilli crab, mee rebus, fried hokkien mee, char kway teow, mee goreng, bak kut teh, rendang, curry and satay. all you need is to get hold of prima taste. used to be available at prima deli, centrepoint only. today, you can get them at any supermarket.

however, if you need a large pack to cater, to say, a group of 12, you still need to get it from the prima deli outlet at centrepoint.

i have tried cooking the laksa, mee siam, hainanese chicken rice and chilli crab. one thing i like about the prima pack is that the condiments are included. of course, the fresh items like bean sprouts, tau pok, chicken and prawns, you have to buy them from the market.

the end product is so good that you can set up a stall and compete with any of the hawkers at the food centres. this friend to whom we introduced the product found it so good that she asked us not to reveal the fact that it came in a pack. she had shared the food with her neighbours who were very impressed by the standard of her cooking.

when ivy goes back to melbourne, she usually has a few boxes of prima taste in her luggage.

seeing off two colleagues to melbourne

was at the airport terminal 2 again to bid adieu to normala and fadilah who were going to melbourne, australia for a 6-day study tour. shidah, jude and nurin were there when i arrived. the other send off party comprised norhana and her family.

normala and fadilah will be visiting some schools, i suppose both elementary and high schools, to find out more about the seed programme being carried out there. there are fifteen in the group, being headed by mrs mano of woodlands ring primary.

they will arrive in melbourne on a sunday morning, very early, at 5.55 a.m. suggested to normala and fadilah that they should visit the arts market at st kilda and victoria market, which is not far from where they are staying. they are staying at the darling towers serviced apartments on collins st.

in the night, they could go to lygon to try the italian food or walk to the casino to watch the hourly fireballs by the river bank.