reunion dinner with my indian friends

we had our annual chingay watching get-together at my place. for dinner, we had yu sheng, prawn fritters, combination of shellfish, locus (abalone style shellfish), jelly, century egg and ginger, stewed mushrooms with dried scallops, assorted vegetables, fried spring rolls, bbq pork and chicken parts cooked with chinese chestnuts.

as we aged, we are getting more health conscious, more wary of eating too much meat. so, the amount of vegetables easily exceeded the quantity of meat. in the past, we used to have roast duck and braised pork.

i am glad for my indian friends because of they have all raised successful children.

nara has three daughters, two of them are doctors and the third is a lecturer in dentistry.

victor's younger son is also a doctor and his daughter is also in the medical line. his elder son was the top indian psle performer in his cohort. he is now studying for his masters in performing arts in the united kingdom.

balendra has one son who studied law but ended up as a teacher. his other son, who has a master degree in counselling, is working in the institute of mental health.

rama's son is a qualified dentist with his own practice in melbourne. his daughter, also a graduate, is a very good classical dancer. i was invited to her public performance at jubilee hall.

i do not know much about sethi as he does not talk much about his family but i am sure his children are also doing well. all i do know is that he dotes on his grandchild.

macritchie reservoir park

this park within the central catchment area is a dream come true for nature lovers. there are walking trails of varying difficulties to cater to the different types of walkers: 3km for the easy ones and 11km for the serious walkers.

just before seven this morning, there was this group of about 20 adults doing qigong, led by a shifu ('master'). there was an even bigger group of students from acs independent who were doing warm-up exercises prior to their canoeing/kayaking session. two cyclists sat by the water edge enjoying the serenity of the placid lake.

at this hour, there are not many joggers and walkers. the fish in the reservoir near the start of the prunus trail are waiting in anticipation for food (bread crumbs).

car-park 'a' was supposed to be closed for upgrading; apparently some people who were not aware of this. car park 'a' will be converted into a two-storey car park and the new car park is expected to be ready in november 2007.

2nd day of chinese new year gathering

this chinese new year gathering of about ten of my former students with two or three of their teachers has been going on for more than a decade. most of the years, i have been the sole representative for the teachers; it was no different this year.

the group comprises two alberts - albert koh and albert poh, wing choy, seck yeong, hiang kwang, chye kiat, mun wai, see thiam and puay heian. li choo, who lives in chicago, would join us whenever she was back in singapore. hiang kwang could not be with us this year as he is in sydney looking after his restaurant.

this year's gathering was hosted by puay heain who moved into a brand new bungalow house at dunsfold drive in december last year. she had sold her corner terrace at lentor to upgrade to this bigger house.

it has five large bedrooms, with attached bathrooms. on the middle floor are the lounge and dining-room, and a kitchen with direct access to the lap pool. the large rumpus-room or family-room is on the ground floor. she has a pool table and a drum set in the family room. her own personal gym is also located on this level. a roof terrace completes the many features of this attractive home.

when i arrived at the house, there was a lion dance troupe performing at the porch. i did not dare make my entrance lest i was mistaken for the 'big head clown'. when mun wai arrived, albert poh and i joined him on a tour of the whole house.

mun wai, who will be fifty soon and who is a senior education officer, is already contemplating retirement in five years' time.

the year of the golden pig

as usual, we had two reunion dinners, one to accommodate lay bee's siblings and their families and one for my mother, unmarried sister and my brother's family. in the past, we had the two reunions on the same day - my own side having it at around 5 o'clock and her side, at around 7 o'clock.

at this year's reunion for her siblings, her eldest sister was not around, neither was her sister's husband but her two children, together with her daughter's spouse and new-born child were present. her second brother brought along two uninvited guests, so we ended up with fifteen persons at the dining tables.

we normally do not have the same kind of food for the two reunion dinners. this year, i opted for steam-boat dinner for my side while lay bee bought and prepared prawns, meat balls, vegetables, noodles and soup for her side.

on the first day of the chinese new year, my siblings and their families would visit my mother at my place as she would have stayed over for the lunar new year. this year, i cooked fried bee hoon and a vegetable dish for lunch. there were also kong bak paus and stewed mushrooms. this year's turn-out was almost full; only yew huay's husband and her married daughter did not show up.

the young adults took turns to play mah-jong while the rest sat around and talked. they moved on to geok wei's place in tampines at 3.30 p.m.

forgoing $100.....hope i did the right thing

this morning i was at fajar wet market when i spied some rolled fifty dollar notes on the floor. there must be at least two notes, which means a sum of one hundred dollars. although there were other people around, they did not seem to notice it. that should say something about the eyesight of an almost senior citizen.

i did not pick up the money. instead i directed the attention of the young man who was helping out at the florist stall to the money. he picked it up without any hesitation.

i was thinking to myself: if i took the money, the person who had lost it would most probably never see the money again. but if the stallholder kept the money, should the person come searching for her money, hopefully, he might return it to her. ( i refer to the person who dropped the money as 'her' because men do not normally rolled the notes in that manner.)

i have lost a fifty dollar note before. of course, i was upset over the loss but i consoled myself by telling myself that at least i would make somebody's day - the person who found it.

when i was in primary two, i found a one-dollar note on my way home from school. i was so happy over the find that i called on my close friend, who lived near the place where i found the money, and shared the princely sum with him.

birthday celebration at empire cafe


yesterday, the kua clan gathered at raffles hotel's empire cafe to celebrate pei ling's birthday. there were twelve of us altogether as lay bee had this feed-at-raffles voucher which entitled her to half the cost for a dinner for (a maximum of) twelve persons. she had another voucher which entitled her to a complimentary birthday cake.

okay, not the whole clan was there. her elder sister's family was not represented because she is still in the usa. anyway, if they had turned up, the number would have been exceeded. to make up the twelve, tim - ida's friend - and rachel - pei ling's friend - were roped in.

we did not go for the set dinner. instead we ordered from the ala carte menu. the ten orders included pork chops, chicken curry, song fish's head, bean sprouts, stewed beef and curry fish. there were complimentary glasses of lime juice. if you order soya drink at empire cafe, there is free re-fill. for dessert, we had orh nee.

the bill came up to $288, so she paid half of the amount, $142.

incidentally, pei ling is 33 years old.

adam road food centre stall 7 - zaiton satay


i was having dessert - tau suan - at adam road food centre when i ran into mohd ali. i had been looking out for him since i heard that he was running one of the stalls there. he was there, near stall 7, waiting to interview potential stall helpers whom he would hiring be do the barbequeing (pengang) of the satay.

his first foray into the food business was in woodlands at a place called spectrum 2. he gave that up because the rental was too high. he paid $75 000 for the adam road's stall and the monthly rental is $1500, paid to nea (national environment authority). utilities charges are low - slightly more than $100 a month - because the stall uses charcoal to bbq (pengang) the satay.

he need not have to be at the stall every day. in fact, he cannot because he is a flexi-adjunct teacher at a primary school in woodlands. he has two trustworthy workers to man the place and his wife is there to open and close the stall.

apart from beef, mutton and chicken satays and the ketupat, (ketupat is a savoury rice cake wrapped in woven coconut leaves.) his stall also sells yong tau foo. he sells the satay in a set: 10 sticks plus one ketupat for $6.00.

valentine day came earlier

this morning, ida surprised us with this food of love at the breakfast table. each of us had a french toast with a small heart-shaped piece on top of the rectangular toast. the table was properly laid out with the eating irons and coasters. there were bottles of kaya and peanut butter on the breakfast table.

basically, you need eggs to make french toast. some people add milk, vanilla and cinnamon to the beaten eggs. older bread is actually better for french toast, as it absorbs the egg better without falling apart.

either she could not wait until february 14 to express her appreciation or she has been deeply inspired by something she had seen at her place of work. ida is working at hog's breath at chijmes. or she could not get to sleep - insomnia.

no wonder i heard knocking sounds coming from the kitchen early this morning, at about five o'clock. i thought she was having one of her usual hunger pangs after watching the hong kong show till the wee hours of the morning.

she must have spent more than one hour preparing and cooking the french toast. when i got up at six, she had just gone to bed.

patin fish at lam siew leng's
retirement dinner

my 'ccab friend' mr lam siew leng, who retired in december last year, 'threw' a dinner for fifty of his friends, ex-colleagues and family members. the dinner was held at tung lok seafood restaurant at east coast park, just behind the macdonald's.

it looked like a repeat of jim kee's dinner held at furuma in december last year because the guest list was much the same. this time, harry tan was there with his wife jessie. say hian, who joined ccab last year, was also there. did not see elangovan around this time.

dinner started with peking duck. each one of us had two pieces of the crispy skin wrapped in egg popiah skin. it has to be eaten hot with hoisin sauce and garnish with spring onion. other dishes included superior shark's fin, mushroom and sea cucumber, sauted prawns, scallops with cauliflower and noodles. but, the dish that was outstanding was the fish - the patin.

patin, or silver catfish, is a freshwater fish. the most popular variety that is a favourite in chinese restaurants is the patin buah. it is a pretty oily fish and has a fine texture. the patin has no scales on its body. in restaurants, patin can be steamed with soy sauce or prepared lemak or assam curry style. because it loves to graze on muddy bottoms, the patin has that muddy flavour.

you can buy the fish locally. today, i saw them selling the patin fish at sheng siong for $3.50/kg.


mr lam is doing some part-time work. he is helping harry tan supervise some of his nie trainees for which he is paid $125 an hour. he is also coaching some students in the game of softball.

driving at toa payoh east


had the whole place to myself this morning, at about 9.00 a.m. 88 bays and only one in use. when i drove in, there was one other car in the car park. i thought the place had been abandoned. no one was in sight. the carpets on the range looked like they had been ripped. there was only a patch which looked serviceable, with a marker.

i did a check. the ball dispensing machine was still there. and there were balls in the dispenser. the empty baskets for the balls were all on the floor. the mat at the bay on which you do the driving did not have the holder for the golf ball. anyway, that is not essential. in actual play, the ball is played as it lies. only when you tee off, do you raise the ball on a tee.

anyway, there was this girl, with a filipino accent, manning the card booth. a single card costs $20 and allows you to get balls from the machine four times. in other words, for hitting 100 balls, you pay $5. for me, hitting 100 balls at each session is more than enough.

i think i am ready to go on to play on the course. i am hitting the balls farther and straighter. except for the occasional slice and hook, i am hitting the ball effectively, about 90% of the time. however, these shots are possible only when i am using clubs 7 and 9. i still need to master the other clubs, like 3 and 5, if i want to hit beyond 125m.