Long weekend…again

I am very serious when I tell you I am super sian when there is a long weekend here. Simply because, there is really nothing much to do. In the past, when there is a long weekend, we will flee from the maddening crowd. This time, due to the exams that are coming for the kids, we decided to just stay put. The spouse goggled and found some interesting places and we did a mini road trip…



Peace and tranquillity


Growing the real food



Stripped off the shell, see the real thing. Over-rated city


An old unused well


How many of our kids are able to enjoy this simple fun?



We had our fun too. Just being silly. The kids wanted to capture all of us jumping in the air…

We ventured further and found ourselves at a strawberry farm. The spouse and kids ended up picking strawberries.



All in all, it was a good day!

Sharing the same date…

The spouse birthday date happens to fall on the same date as the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. Last year I made fun of him and told him that the whole of England was celebrating his birthday and thereafter, the royal couple will be celebrating his birthday every year…oh what a privilege... hahaha

Whether England is celebrating or not, the kids and I celebrated for him.

His homemade birthday gift




Homemade durian swiss roll  for his birthday cake


Found a nice Japanese restaurant to have a birthday lunch. See that mackerel being grilled the traditional way by real Japanese chefs. That's for the spouse



Lovely Japanese food


For dinner, yummy honey glazed ham done by yours truly. So loved the glaze which I made myself. Leftovers will be great for making sandwiches

Nyonya Food

I am always fascinated by nyonya food. Their taste is completely out of this world. Nyonya food, real good ones, command respect.

"...making Nyonya food is no simple affair. The unique and highly flavourful cuisine requires abundant amount of time, patience, and skills. A true Nyonya would spend hours and hours pounding her rempah (spices) with batu giling (a flat slab of stone to grind the spices) to cook up authentic Nyonya dishes such as Perut Ikan (pickled fish stomach with vegetables stew), Salted Fish Pineapple Curry(Gulai Kiam Hu Kut in Hokkien), and other scrumptious Nyonya concoctions". http://nyonyafood.rasamalaysia.com/introduction-nyonya-food/

Precisely, it is the amount of time, patience and skills involved that make nyonya food so different. Please do not mistake good nyonya food from "copycat" nyonya food where premix is being used to replace all the spices. Due to this laborious task of preparing the rempah, yours truly has no guts to take up the challenge until now.

I was flipping through some old food magazines and came across one nyonya dish which I thought (thought) was easy enough to give it a shot…



Fatty? Well, at least it is not processed!

It was indeed laborious. Peeling those shallots alone have made me "cried" buckets. But the end result was extremely fulfilling. My highest respect for the nyonya who sit on a tiny stool, pounding the many spices manually and relentlessly just to produce a great dish. *SALUTE*

An animal activist in the making?



I find her writing very matured. I have not contributed my views nor my comments in her writing. She did this in school for her speech and drama class and I just saw it in her file. Yes, I am so proud of her. Having your own opinion towards an issue is one thing, able to put them forth is quite another. Great job, my little princess.

Track and Field Day

The kids were privileged to be able to use the brand new running track. It was built only last summer and this is the very first time, the school has an official Track and Field Day. However, it will also be the last for the kids as we will be repatriating this autumn.



Beautiful track and field. A couple of kids fell during their events. In tracks like these, one has to put on proper running shoes. Something the kids will learn.

Kids marching in…


Now, who do I see here? Can you spot Kai with his book? That is my boy, no matter where…he must always have a book with him. Hello…my son, it is Sports Day lah!



Waiting eagerly for his turn. On lane three, he was doing the 60m hurdle….and yes, he came in first. Thanks to his long legs.


Can you spot her? It is pretty obvious. She is one super expressive girl


Focused …"how should I do it"….

The erratic weather of Shanghai threatened to dampen the special day. In fact, the school was prepared to change the date. For the whole week leading to that day, the kids were praying heart for good weather. Well, Jesus loves the little children. The weather was more than perfect. No rain, no sun. Just a nice cool breeze throughout the day.

When we were on our way to school that morning, I reminded Kai and Ann. Go out there and do your best, win or lose, it really didn't matter. Don't cry and don't blame your friends for the loss. It was a timely reminder. Sometimes, kids do get carried away with just winning. Ann's team didn't win and she took it very well. In fact, we all cheered for the last boy who finished the race. Yes, I am not the typical kiasu Singaporean mum and I am not the tiger mum. I push them of course. I push them all the time to do their best because, one cannot be slothful. Whatever the result maybe, if you can tell yourself honestly, I have already done by best…that's all it matters!

The day went so well until Ann's pre-school class teacher and the pre-school head of division came to tell me an unfortunate event. Ann had knocked herself and was badly bruised. You know what, it had nothing to do with the sports day, she got injured in class. When I went to see her at the sick bay, she was crying profusely. I know her so well. She will never shed a tear if the pain is bearable. So, it was a nasty fall.  I wanted to bring her home but she insisted on staying back for the rest of the games. Yeap, that's her. Forcing her to go home will bring her greater pain than her bruised head!


Bruised and swollen forehead but now, all's well.

The great divide…


Compare the condition of the two buildings

The story of dual language

The good thing about being able to speak both English and Chinese….

Promoter A : 小姐，买这个，　这个好。。。blah, blah, blah
Yours truly : (Give her the super blur look and shake me head)
Promoter A : (Stop promoting and talking to herself) 听不懂？是外国人

Phew, I can now go back to my grocery list.

Promoter B : Mdm, let me show you this mop …..
Yours truly : 听不懂
Promoter B : Have a nice day!

Oh yes, I will. Thank You *Grin*

Just in case you think I am trying to act like an arrogant expat taitai. Nah, I just like to buy what I need and if I need help, I will ask. It takes a lot of high level patience to tell these promoters that I really don't need what they are hard selling.

Never give up….

It took numerous reminding, haunting and of course nagging for my dear son to realise that he needs to plan for his revision. He finally did it and he really took it seriously.


Never give up, mamas!

From a nine year old….

excerpts from a blog written by a nine year old boy. Notice that he doesn't just write about one topic only.

"Many children want to be rich and famous when they grow up. I do, too. But many of them want to be lazy. I am not one of them. I think that if someone wants to be famous, they have to put some effort into it. For example, musicians make music and so, they become famous. They probably practiced a lot. Of course, at the end, like when they are older, the momentum will carry them on, but their fame will fade away. Even accidental fame takes same effort, right? Well, I shouldn't look too much of children. Humans were born with great ambition anyway."

Philosophical (Those who aspires to be rich and famous, remember..."No free lunch")

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"When I was thinking of the differences between The United States and Panama, I saw that there were many differences in electricity throughout different countries.

• Light Switches

Personally, I think that the US style switch would be better because that if you lean on the European one, you would turn the lights off.

• Voltage

Voltages are always different in different countries. They should all agree one one voltage shape, meaning that you could go anywhere, knowing that every electronic you have works. This would take time and money, but sometimes sacrifices are made, right?

• Plug shape

This is always a big problem when traveling. I do not understand why governments do not agree to such simple things.
These things are always problems when traveling and moving. I hope they change it immediately."

Scientific (I completely agree with him!)

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"Last week my teacher told us to retake a math test. I have been thinking about it for a while. I realise that a test must be a test. We should have just left it there with low grades. A test is for you to see how good you are at that subject. But if you retake the test, you probably already know what the answers are, and the mistakes you need to fix to get good grades. That would mean if you got a 56% on the first test, you probably got, maybe, a 95%. Yes teachers, you are trying to help us. But no teachers, students should face up to their mistakes."

Human behaviour (So much truth. Teachers, I hope you are reading this)

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Many times there are some rival companies that sell or make things. Of course, in movies, they are usually a street across for convenience. But usually they might be on different streets, maybe on the other side of town. If they are factories, then they should let the company make a little less but a little better. Some people would wonder whether they should have quantity but with no quality, or vice versa. I say they should have quality with less quantity. Then people would trust your company and sponsor and buy from it, and that money will be used to make more, so you will have quantity and quality. If they were selling a product, they should sell it cheap, but, of course, not too cheap. Then people would buy a lot of the product. If you only have a few, sell it at a medium price. If you only have one, sell it at a high price(Of course, this has to be really valuable.).

Economics (Always remember the average Joes and Janes)

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You must be wondering which elite school is he from. Let me tell you, none at all. He is a Singaporean on the move. He has travelled together with his family. Where his dad's job leads them, that will be home. What really amazes me (not sure about you) is his ability to think so widely on various life's issues. Bearing in mind always that he is only nine years old. (He turns 10 end of the year).  If at this age, he can think so deeply and maturely, imagine the kind of contributions he can make towards society in future. By the way, he is also a great musician. He plays the piano, violin beautifully. Perhaps, being a musician makes him think a lot. BUT, I also have many friends who are musician yet do not think like that.

Really, is education just about getting into top schools, gifted programme, integrated programme, straight As…herein lies a potential local top talent! Now, who still needs foreign talent?

If you haven't had enough of his writings, you can go to his blog http://www.jordansthinkingplace.blogspot.com

Being an educated person means you have access to optimal states of mind regardless of the situation you are in. ~ Don Berg

Spring is finally here

Spring is God's way of telling us…"I still love you."

Honestly, in SH, I think there are only two seasons. Winter and Summer. Spring and Autumn come and go at lightning speed.


This is what I will see every day during breakfast with the spouse and lunch alone. By dinner time, it is too dark to see anything. So, enjoy while I am still here!