HK Trip 2014 - 10th to 13th May

We made a short trip to Hong Kong this year to celebrate Meimei's 奶奶's birthday. Not sure her exact age this year but sure she is 90 plus. It's nice to see that she is still healthy at this age. For me, meeting the family is always one of the highlights of the Hong Kong trips.

I travelled in the late afternoon on Saturday and flew back on Tuesday afternoon, so I really only had two days to walk around. This trip was not so much of a holiday as is one to attend the birthday celebration dinner on Sunday since all of the uncle and aunties have specially made the trip. The dinner was excellent, by far the best dishes I've had in a Chinese restaurant anywhere. Roast pig, fresh fish and prawn, the soup and its ingredients, the gigantic fried oyster, the ginger and red dates kueh desserts ... I'm drooling just thinking about it. Sadly I didn't get any pictures of the dinner dishes. *sob sob

Meimei had some banking matters to attend to on Monday, which meant I was on my own. I spent the morning browsing through the entire DVD collection at HMV. We met up noonish for lunch at Honolulu cafe and getting my egg tart fix. Sis then brought us in search of another cafe which had good sweet butter toast and scrambled eggs toast. It was a nice find, the toast was crisp, butter at the right sweetness, egg was flavourful. 

Overall it was an uneventful trip compared to the other years. It bordered on boring for me but then again it was a nice break from Singapore. We did come back with a lot of luggage though, which actually comes from Papa and Mama's US trip. My luggage on the way back was a whopping 32.8kg and the check-in counter tied a 'Heavy' tag on it.

I'm excited to hear that Meimei wants to go HongKong again in Dec. Let's hope we can find the time to do so.

爸爸去哪儿超棒！

Meimei introduced me to a very interesting and heartwarming variety show about celebrity dads and their daughters going on holiday together, without their mother. The kids range from 3 to 6 years old and are a handful for any dads, specially the celebrity ones as they are away from home many months of a year for work commitments. 

From the show, I've learned a little more about how kids react, what are the good things that a dad should do to cultivate the right attitudes and perception for a kid. Amongst the kids, I love Angela the most. She is so cute and amazingly eloquent for her age. I can say I've become her 粉丝.

The entire first season is available in HD on youtube 爸爸去哪儿1st episode and I highly recommend everyone, dads especially, to watch. You really don't want to miss this.

Hello Kitty Madness 2014

They did it right this year. The whole Hello Kitty set can be ordered online right from the get-go. I applaud McDonald's for investing in the online ordering store for Kitty.

Meimei bought 3 sets this year. One for keeping in mint condition, one for displaying (she suggested the car, but we'll see >.<") and last one for her colleague in KL. Although the sets come with 6 $5 extra value meals, at $80 for the whole set it isn't cheap.

Well, at least there are no joshing and pushing this year at the stores. Honestly though, it does make the experience less engaging ... I know I am being weird. But somehow the queuing and worry about not getting a kitty makes it exciting to be gunning for one.

Bowl Stickies

Meimei was at Diaso again today and bought a number of bowls and plates. She decided to borrow my hand to 'hold' the stickers as she peeled them off the wares.

The Art of Conversation

So I was lying in bed, waiting for sleep to come. These are the best times for thinking, for deliberating on whatever bugs me. Most times I just think of weird stuff, nonsensical gibberish or maul over unhappy events and injustice.

Last night I started thinking about what I might be doing wrong when conversing. You know some people just have the gift of the gap. Maybe its the tone of their voice, the way they fit their sentence into the context of the conversation. I dunno, somehow everyone around me seems to be able to speak a lot better than I can.

Now it's not that I have a limited vocabulary, far from it. I do not profess to have excellent English skills but I would say I'm average. Reading helped a lot in this and my sentence structures do not suffer from Chinese influences.

I think the problem lies in that I like to be heard. Self-centered mentality maybe? Know it all, I'm always right mentality maybe? I dunno ... well I should really. I find it hard to converse with people. Those who are nice try to accommodate me in the conversation. Other nastier souls just brush me off.

So really I need to reach within to improve my art of conversation. "Hear, stop, think, offer small morsel, stop, check reaction, offer more if listening, if not stop." I think it's about being more intuitive to the listener's reactions to what is being said. So rather than simply going on and on about something, I need to learn to watch for their facial expressions to what I've said. And learn to listen more rather than speak.

I wonder how long I could remember on this point for self-improvement. Will my natural instinct to speak and speak mess me up again? I dunno ... only time can tell.

Cold & Spicy, SiChuan 凉拌菜

Meimei first introduced to me this variety of SiChuan cuisine a couple of years ago. If you are like me where you have a tiny cautiousness or skepticism of Chinese immigrants, you would be happy to know that at least they brought something of note to the Singapore food scene.

There was a stall selling 凉拌菜 at Bedok and it was extremely popular with  the Chinese nationals. Look around the kopitiam and you will find one munching on a 馒头 with a plate of the chilli red accompaniments. Every dish is mixed in a 'healthy' doze of chilli and garlic mix and the spiciness appeals to Singaporean's palate. Sadly the stall closed a few months after my first visit and for quite awhile we couldn't find another place in the east for this deliciously appetising cuisine.

We finally found our go-to stall in Chinatown last year. The meats are mostly cow or pig innards, cooked and frozen till they become cold dishes. My favourite is the bean curd skin. I eat it like you would rice or noodle. 

For some odd reason I didn't get a pic whenever we had it and thus never blog about it. But really ... this was something we love to eat and finally we remembered to take photos before we dig into them. 

So if you are keen on spicy food and haven't had the chance to try this, I highly recommend you make a trip to Chinatown. And while you are at it, you could also try the China-style 麻辣火锅 at the food centre. Note though I've not tried the 火锅 myself as it looks extremely spicy, but go ahead if you are the adventurous sort ... just remember to bring lots of napkins!

No Opinions!

I really need to keep my opinions in check. No opinions, no emotions, no statements. If I have any, suck it up and keep it to myself.

Just the other day I rambled on about something and it irritated Meimei alot. It was right of her to point it out, she is the only who cares about me to tell me my flaws. I truly appreciate it. But I'm useless ... After all these years I've still not learned. 'Go with the flow!'

So now it takes more drastic methods to try to curb my over fixation on any topic. I will keep humming 'no opinions, no opinions!' whenever I talk or hear conversations. That might distract me from the conversation but hey, failing to follow or hear the conversation would help me to be confused and not respond as well. So it's like a voice in my head that messes with my concentration so words pass by and I don't listen enough to react.

I believe there are several stages to getting into a 'good EQ' category. Meimei hopes I can jump straight to the expert level of cutting through the gist of a conversation and offer factual non-bias comments. But sadly I'm very inapt in the EQ department. So I have to start small by a doable means to 'not take offence' or 'not offer opinions' before I can slowly learn to dissect what I'm hearing so I don't jump at a certain opinion which may offend people.

So first step, 'No opinions! No opinions!'.

Tulips Galore

Gardens by the Bay has a different focus display every month. And it's tulips in April, which excited Sis and Meimei so much we are braving the crowds on the first weekend the new exhibit is open.

The flower dome was transformed into a sea of tulips. The wide variety of colours brought the place to life, with striking vibrances at every corner.

For those who do not have a chance to experience a tulip garden in holland, this is your next best bet for a chance to pose against a multi colour field of flowers.

If gardens keep up such stunning displays, I might invest in an annual 'Friends of the gardens' family pass.

Flowery Social Media Icons

Spot this at Changi Airport Terminal 3. Never a fan of social media but like how they made the icons pop with clever use of flowers.

Home Made Bread Crumbs

So a few days ago I made a booboo on the bread. And after leaving it overnight the crust has hardened into a rock like texture and the insides are now dry and somewhat stale. Since it's not edible as a breakfast bread, I'll make the best out of it by using it as bread crumbs. The dryness actually is essential for bread crumbs as it may be harder to crisp soggy bread.

So in to the food mixer blender attachment it goes to break it down. This is also the first time I'm using a blender, ever. And the results don't look too pleasing. Somehow there were still a number of mid to large pieces left. Oh well, I suppose that's what you get from not using a dedicated machine.

Next I threw it on a pan of oil and pan-fried it. The key is to constantly move it around so it doesn't burn. Put it on low heat so the bread will dry up and turn brown. But as you can see below, the bigger crumbs have not turned brown as I couldn't get them to the heat on the pan since the smaller ones just filled the bottom.

To test whether they are good, I whipped up a quick lunch of spaghetti and bratwurst mixed with the bread crumbs. Because the bread had garlic in it, it brought the aromatic taste to the pasta as well. Ok not too bad, the bread crumbs do bring a different texture sense to the pasta dish. Yes it'll do fine as a ingredient of sorts for a salad. Yeah for not wasting food!

Baking Blunders - I Need New Glasses

I took the recipe for a ciabatta from the squarish "500 breads" book I bought recently. The ingredients and preparation steps looks easy enough. 510g white bread flour, 440ml + 2tbsp warm water, 1/2 tsp sugar, 1 tsp salt, 1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast, 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil. I was ambitious and decided to put in a few cloves of finely chopped garlic. Garlic ciabatta, sounds yummy.

Well as usual things didn't go as planned. As I started to mix all the ingredients together except for the olive oil, the mistakes slowly unravel.

• I didn't have enough bread flour so it was a mix of bread and all purpose flour. Ok should be fine.

• I poured all the water into the bowl ... should have let it in slowly while the food processor kneads it. A pointer to remember next time. The mix does seem wetter than I like. I should pour more flour in to thicken it.

A very wet dough, early signs of things gone wrong haha

• Hmmm ... wait a sec. Tsp ... that stands for tablespoon yah? ... No wait wait ... !!! tbsp is tablespoon and tsp is teaspoon! Oh no, what have I done?! Oh boo-ey ... I've messed up the proportions ... sigh~.

Oh well, its too late to correct it now. Might as well go ahead and see what monstrosity of a dough I can conjure up with this mix. And to go with my resolution to be more optimistic I took stock of the extra's I've put in. Ok, extra sugar ... that should be fine, the bread would taste sweeter which may not be a bad thing. Extra salt, that's fine, it'll balance out the sugar. Yeast, wait the portions I put in are the same as the recommended amounts on the packet, so in essence I should be fine? :p

1 sachet to 500g of flour, well that's what I did 'mistakenly'

Although I've managed to convince myself it's not that bad, at this point I'm resigned to failing. That said, since there was no harm in putting this into the oven, I let it rise for an hour and pop it into the oven.

The mass of wet gooey dough after an hour of rising

45 minutes later, presto ... a half-decent looking bread. The good: it actually turn into a bread of sorts! The ok: crust was pretty good, the garlic helped with the taste. The bad: bread inside was too dense. Too much moisture I think.

Looks can be deceiving

Not flaky, too dense

I'm keeping this loaf overnight to make a bread crumbs recipe I saw on TV a few nights ago. Why waste food yah? I'll definitely try my hand at this again. I just need to remember to clean my glasses the next time I do this ;-)

The Evil TT

TT, my evil nemesis. Makes the most irritating sound known to humankind. And a snarky smile to boot. I will hunt you down~!!! 

Gummi For Study Assignment

Bought Gummi's for assignment ingredients for a Food course on Coursera. Became a 菜头, paying $4 for it. I doubt the store will survive with such pricing practices.

Blogging: Going The Distance

One fine afternoon I was bored and decided to check out random blogs. Naturally I clicked the "Next Blog" on the Blogspot navigation top bar to see if I can chance on interesting blogs.

After scrolling through maybe about hundred odd blogs, I sense a pattern. Most blogs run for about 4-5 years, typically starting from 2007-2008 and their last post end around 2012-2013. For those which look to be popular, the authors leave a post redirecting the visitor to their personal domain website address. For the rest, the posts simply taper off at the end with sporadic entries over several months and then nothing.

With that I started to reflect on my own experience of blogging. I can appreciate the time commitment it takes to blog. It's not as simple as writing stuff on a whim. Well you can do that but after awhile you would also want to write meaningful (at least in your own opinion) content so it doesn't become monotonous. I know over the years there have been many occasions where I've stopped blogging regularly due to work and studies. So the authors of the dormant blogs may have faced the same challenges, became tired of blogging or have been waylaid by real life. It's a real pity though, some of these blogs are very well written, even if their content is simply about their daily personal lives.

Another reason for the dormant blogs could be the lack of readership. Many bloggers write in hopes that people will appreciate their content and form a credible reader base for advertising income or branch into other revenue streams. Others want people to peek into their lives and create social connections. But the fact is, many do not succeed. And hence they drop off  when their motivation to blog is no longer fulfilled or supported by the number of audiences. 

I'm coming up to year 8 of blogging this July. And I feel good that I would continue to blog. I write not for the audience or advertising income. I take this blog as a diary and an avenue to express my daily life, my experiences, my history. Even now, looking back at the old posts from 2007-2009 brings back fond memories and a smile to my face. This is what drives me to continue to blog. May this blog bring more smiles to Meimei and I (and others) in the many years to come as we continue together on our journey through life's pleasures and pains.

A Free Way To Learn

I recently discovered an unparalleled resource for online learning. It's not the youtube do-it-yourself guides. It's an online setup which offers university entry level courses to the masses. All you need is an internet connection.

Like most folks I had the initial impression that the courses were simply a touch of the actual classroom course and I could breeze pass. How wrong I was ... these courses are build with rigour. I literally had to study the textbook and sit through the online lectures to answer the quizs and work through the labs.

Brilliant! A free online source to learn business topics, all in the comforts of home. And difficult enough that spending the time on it means something. I applaud the people who put this together and the time and efforts of the professors offering these courses. Some of the online lectures and materials are of an even higher quality than those you get in a classroom setting. I'm truly impressed.

I highly recommend anyone who have a little time to check the courses on offer at Coursera. You will find a whole new world of structured learning and opportunities.