Selamat Aidilfitri

A lovely evening of cross-cultural celebration with Malay food from our non-Malay kitchens.

At our dinner table were friends who are recent arrivals to Singapore. They were delightfully fascinated with the intricate tastes of Malay-style food - a totally new culinary experience for them. Looking at how they readily tried all the alien- looking and tasting dishes in front of them, I know they will take to living here well.

I am happy to be one of the first locals to introduce them to the local food scene.

he mele no lilo

Indulge me. I just love this song :



There is this really cute children's version :



Then the version I'd love to dance:



... and now I can't stop the song playing in my head...

Pig-out@Zi Yean Restaurant

Of late, the pig-out friends are having a hard time coming up with places to, well, pig-out at.

Our old reliable standby, Moi Kong, is closed; the entire building is undergoing massive renovation. Our other kitchen is closed and waiting for renovation to be completed at a yet-to-be-disclosed new location.

I don't include the big name restaurants in our pig-outs because there really isn't any surprises in those places. On reputation alone, one already expects impeccable service, opulent ambience and spectacular food.

Rather, we delight in finding low-key restaurants that would turn out some outstanding dishes. If the food is truly out-of-this-world divine, we would even put up with noise, over-crowdedness and untrained wait staff.

One recent foray turned out to be a delightful discovery. Food was decent, service was efficient and the place was not noisy!

Two of their dishes deserve special mention:

- their fried la mien had a beautiful wok hei aroma that woke up even jaded taste buds

- their 3-flavour fried chicken was skilfully done with different fragrant peppers and finished with a distinct citrus note

Zi Yean Restaurant is located at
Blk 56 Lengkok Bahru, #01-443
S 150056
Tel: 6474 0911

My old neighbourhood

I grew up in East Coast Road and Katong,

My memories of the place will always be
- the school where the sea waves lapped up against the fence,
- three cinemas within walking distance of each other,
- Roxy laksa,
- coffee houses in shopping arcades where the girls swooned over boyfriends of the week while gobbling up sundae banana splits,
- seafood restaurants in rest houses,
- cozy homes with carefully tended gardens,
- and tree-lined quiet avenues.

I rarely go near the area once I left it. I hear of the developments and changes over the years, but I never experienced it. The place grew up and became a stranger while I carried on with my necessary journey of breaking away from ties that bind too tightly.

A handful of times a year, I'd find myself making my way to my old neighbourhood to visit friends, have lunch, and look in on family.

Today was one of those days.

Visited an old friend who recently moved to Bedok.

Had lunch at Bedok Market Place.

Met the newest addition to my growing clan - my nephew Thadeus.

I feel no nostalgia for the East coast area; I recognise very little of it; I have gotten away.

One of us is from Mars

I rarely see my dance mates outside of their dance classes. Now that I am imminently leaving them, I decided to join them for coffee.

For whatever reason, I told them the following documentary I saw on TV some time back:

The date was October 15, 2003. The first Chinese astronaut was to be shot into space in a capsule. On D-Day, there he was, in space suit and all, at his send off attended by all the very important people involved with the Chinese space programme. It was a grand ceremony as befitting the occasion. Among the well-wishers were the astronaut's wife, in her whatever uniform, and their son who looked about 8 years old.

The historical moment neared. The wife said her goodbye to beloved husband by sticking out her right hand for a farewell handshake. The astronaut husband shook her hand, then turned to their son and stuck out his hand. Son shook father's hand.

There was no show of any emotion (excitement, anxiety, something, anything).

Eleven hours later, in the control room, the same very important space programme people and wife and son were waiting expectantly for a tele-conference with the man in his capsule in space. The man came on the screen. Some static, and then audio connection was made.

First words out of her mouth: "Ni hao mah?"
He: "Hai hao. Ni ne?"
She: "Wo men do hao. Ni fan xin"

Again, no show of any emotion to indicate the two people are anything to each other!

The coffee group turned thoughtfully silent. Then one uncle opened his mouth and said, "I don't get it. What are you saying is wrong?"

Stunned, I looked around the table. The others clearly shared his perplexity.

Despair gripped me in the gut like a vise at the same time that crystal clarity seized my brain: one of us is from Mars, and it isn't any of them.

afterthought : what planet are my readers from?

footnote: for historical accuracy, read the segment on China's first piloted space flight here.

Two haflas and a hula dance

I made my way to the haflas on my own, knowing I'd meet up with the usual suspects. I decided not to bring my camera. I wanted to just kick back and enjoy the performances instead of peering through the lens on the lookout for photo-worthy shots.There were many videos and cameras going. One of the videos appear here.

I am truly happy for Belinda and Claribel that their haflas were very well attended. There were many many new faces, always an encouraging sign for this small community. And then there were the familiar faces - a heart warming show of support for friends who put in so much effort to bring these events to the bellydance circle.

The weekend also turned out to be rewarding in a personal way. A chance conversation with a fellow bellydancer uncovered a little known hula dance class available in a studio downtown.

I was looking to stop social dance for a while; I am not having a good time at salsa with the uncles and aunties.

The hula class will be an ideal substitute.

I don't know what to expect, but I am hoping it will be this.

Noise and more noise

Chinese restaurants are noisy. But there is noise, and there is noise.

I put up with boisterous adults celebrating too enthusiastically because I have to. If I must, I put up with wait-staff who clang and bang the crockery around when clearing tables.

But I finally had it with children running all over the place screeching and shrieking in their horse-play.

I stomped up to the offending child ring-leader and yelled at him to cease and desist. The helpless maids minding the unmindful children were embarrassed. The adults who own the noise-monsters looked up with a what's-your-problem-with-our-cute-playful-children expression, but did nothing more. I glared at them with poison darts in my eyes and venom in my heart.

But, the noise assault dropped immediately to a more acceptable level.

I know I will not hesitate to act exactly the same way the next time. And the next time.

Weekend of Haflas

click on picture for larger image

Belinda's line-up of performers for her monthly hafla in September at Blu-Jaz Space promises to be a strong cast. Read more about it here.

Claribel is holding an open house and hafla on her premises on Sunday, 14th September. More details here.

Bali and Paul Ropp

We made our short 3-day turnaround visit to Bali for the Paul Ropp sale. Like we have done faithfully twice a year for the past 3 years.

This is, sadly, too many times for too many years. There is no new exciting clothing or accessories to be had this time. We spent 2 days going through the inventory. Still, nothing.

What saved the trip was the chance meeting of new friends. I have a good feeling about this couple. Time will tell.

We decided that we will skip Paul Ropp in February next year, and think carefully about the big sale next September.

Yes, something has changed in our love affair with Bali and Paul Ropp. So so sad...

The Paul Ropp annual sale

3 - 8 September 2008

I'm so there already.

August

was the month

Styx river, NSW

that whizzed by too quickly.

So many things I did not get around to doing ...