Liew Family Life

Don't miss the chance to be filial.

2011-06-17T14:06:00.001+08:00

There are two people you can never repay. What two? Your father and your mother. Even if you were to carry them on your back and live a hundred years, supporting them, anointing them with medicines, bathing and massaging their limbs and wiping up their excrement after them, even this would not repay them. Even if you were to give them absolute rule over the whole world, this would not repay them. And why? Because parents do much for their children - they bring them up, nourish them, they introduce them to the world.

But whoever encourages his unbelieving parents to believe, his immoral parents to be virtuous, his stingy parents to be generous, his foolish parents to be wise, such a one by so doing does repay, does more than repay his parents.

Anguttara Nikaya I.61

Drive up Malaysia for durian

2010-07-05T10:02:00.007+08:00

I drove up Malaysia with parents and S last Saturday. One objective was to enjoy durians in the town of Tangkak (near Segamat) but my personal objective was to stretch the legs of my 15 year old W124.
Dad surveying the old-town scene of Kluang, about 2 hours drive from Singapore.

Waiting for food to be served at the 'Lau Pa Sat' coffee shop in Kluang.

Row of W124s parked opposite the durian stall in Tangkak.

The Tangkak durian stall.

Satisfied looks after stuffing ourselves with high quality durians.

Here, we reached the Gunung Ledang Waterfall and Resort, just 6km away from the durian stall.
One of the many pools that locals are enjoying a dip in. We needed around 25 mins to reach this spot but one can actually reach the summit if he wants.

Updates on Brown and White

2010-06-14T17:40:00.003+08:00

Brown has been awakened earlier these days now that her daddy is motivated to bring her for early morning walks. She seems to like it though and wakes up without prompting once daddy is up and about. She has also taken to poo-ing during her walks probably because there are less people around and we know how fussy she is that no one should see her doing her business.

Yesterday, blood was observed in White's urine and she was rushed to the vet. Suspecting a urinal tract infection, antibiotics was prescribed. She was still in good spirits though and enjoyed vigorous tummy rubs. Tail was down most of the time after enduring a long 2km dogathon at East Coast Park.

Smiling enough?

2010-05-05T14:30:00.002+08:00

I was taking the lift down for lunch today. One person was telling his friend. Do you know that the greatest difference between a human and a animal is that a human have the ability to smile.....and most people are not using this ability enough.

Hmm...quite interesting, I thought, and I do agree that I see many sullen faces around.

Then, as I stepped out of the lift, I realised his statement is not entirely true.

My dog can smile as well!

White dog in brown dog's house

2010-05-03T21:14:00.001+08:00

Brown monitoring White.
Group photo.

White enjoying her belly scratched.

Middle child left out?

2010-05-03T16:06:00.003+08:00

A couple of weeks ago during lunch, my colleagues (those with children) were debating whether it will be good to have 2 or 3 kids. It is the usual argument, one will be too lonely(for the kid), two seems just nice and three, the middle one will feel left out.

So I was there minding my own chicken (we were eating chicken rice!) because I am seriously not interested in all these talk on children.

Suddenly, one of them asked me, hey, since you were one of three kids, and the middle one, did you ever felt left out. Choking on my piece of chicken, and straining my brain to instantly unlock decades-old memories of childhood, I really cannot think of any incident. So I said no.

But this question was left lingering and the answer actually is yes. There were certain occasions I felt left out.

In my innocent childhood years, I always have this feeling that my mum doted more on my elder brother and my father liked my younger brother more.

But thankfully, my character is quite easy going and I found other avenues to channel my emotions for example in books and sports. I also had very good friends in school.

But on reflection, I have also been a difficult child. I grew extremely argumentative in secondary school and loathed housework so my mum was always scolding me. My dad has always been quiet but he could be very fierce at times. I always resented this and would antagonize him by being sarcastic. He always threatened to slap me but he never did.

Being a Buddhist, I would like to think that I have done something good in the 'past' and despite all my emotional challenges in my early years, I think I grew up rather normal and balanced! haha

I don't know whether it is karma, but as life would have it, my parents visit my place every week nowadays and this week when they are away travelling, I miss their company. It also seemed weird that they were not around for our weekly taiji lessons.

Locked Out

2010-04-29T16:10:00.003+08:00

I was locked out of my own house yesterday night for one hour.

Admittedly, I was quite upset because it was almost 10pm, and I was tired and sleepy and I have not had my beer! S had to bear the brunt of my unhappiness.

Whilst waiting for the house keys to be fetched, I spent an irritable hour lying on a slab of concrete 'wall' at the void deck, inviting suspicious stares from nighbours walking to the lift lobby. Thankfully for army training, I can balance myself very well while lying down (face up) on the wall only 30cm wide.

The Guiness foreign extra did its work wonderfully after I got into my house later though. I did not have too much time to enjoy its taste as my bedtime beckoned.

Conclusion? I think I am a little stressed from work.

Enlistment

2010-04-28T19:43:00.006+08:00

Cousin JL will be enlisting in a few months time and he is not a whee bit concerned, like I was in my time. Why? Because he has been medically downgraded.

I still remember my enlistment day, the images of climbing up the three-tonner, of glancing at my parents sitted and waving at me, picking up the ali baba bag, waiting for the hair-cut, waiting at the range for shooting practice, of many punishments (especially one change parade I was responsible for for reporting back camp late), a female sergeant screaming obscenities at us, the same female sergeant making me 'knock-it-down' when I offered to give her a hand going down a steep slope, of having an emergency pee session while firing blanks in the midst of tall lalang somewhere in Lim Chun Kang, of being estatically happy when I chanced upon a secondary school friend who was also involved in training in Lim Chu Kang .... the list goes on.

In a way, I am sorry that JL will not be having the FULL NS experience, though I doubt very much he will mind.

Little White Dog visiting

2010-04-28T19:37:00.002+08:00

Snowy (I call her Little White Dog) is staying over at our place for a week as Ben and parents are travelling to Hokkaido. Dana, aka Little Brown Dog, is a little concerned and quite jealous. So S and I have to be careful that the two little dogs do not end up fighting, not that they will actually.

S has also being kept busy, preparing their meals, and monitoring their small and big businesses. It has also made my life a but more exciting, as I have another dog belly to scratch.

Separately, I am happy for parents that they have an opportunity to visit Japan with Ben and LL accompanying. And it is sakura season, it will be beautiful!

W124 - My new (old) ride

2010-03-17T21:51:00.001+08:00

Lessons from Korean Drama

2010-02-24T17:48:00.002+08:00

S and I have recently taken to watch the 7pm Korean Drama on Channel U. In brief, the protaganist Encai was ousted from her marriage by her best friend Aili and left to drown by her husband. Miraculously, she survived and plotted her revenge against the two by taking on another identity. Thankfully, Aunt Sherry has the DVD and we shortened our agony of catching the one-hour daily offerings and went straight to the last two episodes.

In the show, Aili is a character that is extremely cunning and evil, endlessly dreaming up schemes for her own selfish needs without caring about others. Encai and the rest of the innocent parties naturally hated her.

(Do not continue reading if you are still watching the show!)

Towards the very end, Aili realised that she can terminal cancer and for the welfare of her only son, she repented and begged those whom she had plotted against to take care of her son. And they did.

In a way, as ludicrous as the plot and the end may sound, it mimics real life pretty well. When we are alive and healthy, reflecting about our own mistakes is very difficult. The mother of one of the characters said "The best time to quieten down and reflect on oneself is when you are sick, weak and stuck in a hospital bed."

However, in real life, human beings can be even tougher nuts to crack. One of my uncles never forgave my grandfather over a past incident, did not see him for decades, and refused to even attend his funeral. This saddened us greatly. I feel sad for him too because now that grandfather has passed away, the chance to say sorry has also gone.

Cousin 泽徐 Zexu's Wedding in Wenchang

2010-02-19T13:51:00.002+08:00

CNY 2010 - Steamboat dinner at Aunt Sherry's

2010-02-16T14:26:00.001+08:00

太極推手

2010-01-03T22:19:00.001+08:00

Parents march in at wedding vows renewal ceremony

2010-01-02T00:05:00.006+08:00

Mum and Dad signed up for a wedding vows renewal ceremony presided over by Minister Lim Boon Heng.

Here's a video showing my happy parents during the march-in.

The video below shows Mum and Dad receiving their certificate from Minister Lim Boon Heng. Mum was lookoing out for our family photographer ie Ben that she forgot there were official photographers -- they had to wave to get her attention!

More photos from the lovely event:

My own journey with bilingualism

2009-12-16T22:44:00.005+08:00

I did well enough in my PSLEs to qualify for a SAP (Special Assistance Plan) school which teaches both English and Chinese as first languages. I owe this satisfactory outcome to my mother who had to spend what limited extra money we had in those days for English and Mathematics tuition for me; Ben and I went to tuition together but that story is for another post.

I grew up in an all-chinese family. My standard of english up, till secondary school, was rather poor and this was not helped by having predominantly chinese friends and playmates. I recall now being very nervous when speaking with my malay and indian classmates in english.

Realising this weakness, I deliberately chose to study, in secondary school, english literature instead of chinese literature which most of my good friends did. In E. Lit class, I remember my teacher Miss Foo would have us to read aloud passages from texts such as "Things Fall Apart" and "To Kill a Mockingbird". I must have impressed my teacher somewhat in my english oratory abilities that I was asked to represent the class in a debating competition. That experience was both agony and enlightenment. I was shaking when it was my turn to stand and speak, my hands twitched, I stammered and I was an obvious nervous wreck. I was so embarassed that I told myself it was time to improve.

The trouble was although we were in a SAP school, the focus was actually on learning a higher level of chinese and not english. So to practise english, when speaking (or scolding) the NPCC squad which I was in charge of, I would only use english. I would like to think this gave me added confidence in using the language later in my life.

On the other hand, as we were a SAP school, the methods of learning chinese were decidedly traditional with lots of tingxue and moxie. Long bus journeys were the perfect time to study the textbook in preparation for quizzes although this severely damaged my eyesight. But becuase of my background growing up speaking chinese, I never had any serious problems in chinese.

Since I started working, what I had to continue improving though was writing in english: in being clear in explaining, appreciating the flow of ideas and tightening prose. And this has so far been a daily learning process that will probably never stop.

So my take on the current bilingualism issue is this. Based on my personal experience, the environment a child grows up in is crucial. In Singapore's context, if a parent appreciates the importance of chinese, then chinese should be the dominant language at home. As for english, there will be more than ample opportunities to develop proficiency or even mastery of the language in formal settings such as in school or work.

Hainan Trip 2009 - Falling sick

2009-12-14T22:34:00.002+08:00

The weather was nice and cool in Wenchang, in which we spent 5 days. The days were packed. We woke up early and gathered at the hotel lobby at 7am and took a short walk to the city centre park for our morning exercise.

This will be followed by a hearty lunch before we took the 2 hour plus ride for sightseeing before returning to the village home for dinner. We then had to endure another long ride back to our hotel in Wenchang. The day does not stop there. We will then take a walk in the city streets and have our daily dessert of ginger soup. By the time leave for the hotel, it will be around 11pm.

When we proceeded to Haikou from Wenchang on the fifth day, all seemed fine in the morning. We had our morning exercise followed by our breakfast.

But mum recalled later that once their car entered Haikou, my cousin and Dad immediately started sneezing. By the way, Haikou is warmer and the air is more polluted.

The hotel in which we had planned to stay turned out to be a bad choice as it was situated in front of a wet market, and the condition was quite run-down. It was made worse when I observed that the toilet had no door but a curtain for separation.

By the time we found a hotel and took a short drive to have lunch, Dad was already not feeling well and had to visit the toilet twice. I felt a little tired but was not feeling unwell.

When we reached the hotel, we all agreed to take a much needed rest from the long journey from Wenchang. Ben was already not feeling well. As for me, once I started to lie down on the bed, I felt a little cold, a familiar sympton that the body was trying to cool itself.

I woke Ben up and he immediately gave me some panadol.

I grew increasingly cold and weak and slept until the next morning.

But the most surprising part was that Mum did not fall sick at all despite the fact that she was complaining she wasn't feeling well at the airport!

Must know how to earn money!

2009-12-14T22:14:00.003+08:00

Mum and I were joking with cousin A, who happened to be 'unattached' now that we will be able to find suitors for him from Hainan who can help with household chores and can cook.

This was not purely in jest because mum was requested by a Hainan acquaintance to look out for such opportunities for her nieces.

Cousin A replied," In Singapore, no need to know how to cook, most importantly much know how to make money!"

Grandfather's one year anniversary

2009-12-11T19:34:00.006+08:00

It is a cliche, but visiting Grandfather at the columbarium, I asked my uncle,"Time flies, has it been a year already?" I have since been a little moody the whole day from the visit.

I was at the columbarium early and as it was a weekday, it was largely deserted save for one family also paying their respects to their beloved relative.

So I ventured to the 'block' housing my grandfather. Beside my grandfather was my grandmother and a couple of other relatives. My grandfather had the foresight to have booked the lots for all of them early :)

I remembered this phrase regarding 'the longest distance in the world': 乡愁是一方方整齐的骨灰坛，我在外头，外公在里头。

Uncle K prepared the food, drinks, paper-money and incense offering. At that point when we were performing the rituals, I realised that this is not about superstition, it is about remembering a loved one, and wanting to have a way to display the love.

Cousin A and I were then given the task of burning all the paper-money and artifacts and we have quite a fun time playing with fire, literally.

We adjourned for a satisfying lunch of dumpling noodles before making our separate ways home.

Taiji - Words from Laoshi today

2009-11-29T15:36:00.003+08:00

This morning's 2-hour lesson passed exceptionally quickly today. S said this was because I was assigned to the front row corner spot and had to concentrate. I think this is quite true. I felt I really learnt something today.

What laoshi said today:

1) Use internal strength and external form like a turbo engined vehicle.

2) Difference in western and chinese styled bells (this is something I have never considered!). Western bells eg church bells are struck from the inside whereas easter eg temple bells are struck from the outside. The sound emitted naturally differs. The church bells and clear and loud compared to the deep lasting humming of the temple ones. This, says laoshi, also illustrates the difference between the US and Chinese and why the US finds it so difficult to understand the Chinese. As taiji practitioners, he said we should look to the temple bell as an example.

3) 打拳不是看行，而是看心。

Hainan Trip 2009 - Day 1

2009-11-10T13:19:00.004+08:00

Hainan Trip 2009

2009-11-09T21:33:00.002+08:00

We took a morning flight out of Haikou and returned to Singapore eagerly looking forward to returning to our individual routines.

Summarising this trip, we visited my father's hometown for four days consecutively, visited four different beaches and apart from my mum, the rest of us all fell sick.

Will be posting more photos and details of our trip in subsequent posts but will leave now with a group photo and one I took with my grandma.

Out-of-Office Message

2009-11-01T16:40:00.002+08:00

Will be away with parents and Ben at Hainan from yesterday.

杨振河推手

2009-10-19T22:11:00.001+08:00

Sharing Ba Duan Jin

2009-10-17T15:40:00.002+08:00

Invited Aunt Sherry for a walk at Botanic Garden last week. Uncle Keong and wife joined us as well. So I took the opportunity to share with them the steps of Ba Duan Jin and hope that they will practise and reap the benefits of this ancient exercise.

Front crawl stroke

2009-10-10T23:06:00.001+08:00

Taiji applications

2009-10-10T22:06:00.000+08:00

Video: Phelps 200m free at Beijing

2009-10-08T22:27:00.002+08:00

Its all in the legs

2009-10-06T21:39:00.003+08:00

Swimming the freestyle, that is.

I have been trying to learn to swim the front crawl stroke properly these few months and my wife S has been pointing out my fatal error of which I have no means to improve -- I cannot float. If you do not know how to swim the freestyle and have attempted it, you will probably experience the same sinking and lung-bursting agony as I, and the harder you propel yourselves with your hands, instead of going faster, you merely sink faster.

Where do you sink first then...yes...the legs.

Let's analyse.

Suppose you push off from the wall of the pool with your arms in front of you. With the momentum of the push, you will be able to glide, and as you get slower and slower, your legs will drop. Why is this?

The only natural float we have as humans are in the lungs, so to push our legs up, we have to kick -- in freestyle, the kick is normally referred to as the flutter kick.

This was how I learnt the flutter kick.

- Use a kick board and kick. Sounds easy? I couldn't reach one-third of the pool without my legs sinking when I started.
- Stablise the body when kicking. Your hips should not be swinging wildly as you kick. (This point is very important and cannot be over emphasised)
- Try putting it together with your arm-stroke once you are sufficiently proficient.

Aunt S hospitalised

2009-09-28T22:20:00.005+08:00

Aunt S felt weak at the MRT Station this morning and the station control officers very kindly arranged for a ambulance to send her to A&E. As she was running a slight fever as well, her symptoms were initially diagnosed as minor-stroke which worried all of us.

When I visited her at the hospital in the evening, I was happy to note that she looked and sounded normal. She was due to take a MRI scan of her brain to assess whether there was stroke.

In any case, I gently told her that this was a wake-up call she should heed and suggested that she find time to join us in our weekend taiji and leisure activities both to find some exercise and to relax.

Post-Note at Noon, 29 Sep 09

Aunt Sherry is being discharged now. According to Cousin Jing, who just visited her, "Everything seems fine".

Celebrating Mum's Birthday

2009-09-20T22:50:00.004+08:00

Mum's big day today. The birthday lunch was Crystal Jade at Terminal 2.

Mum loves to take photos amongst colourful flowers.

It was the Hari Raya period so the airport had thoughtfully set up related themes for photography.

It was also F1 fever. And for a single receipt of more than $20, you get to ride a electric go-kart.

Dad on his go kart.

This is the closest mum will ever get to driving a car!

补天计划

2009-09-13T11:16:00.003+08:00

Mum acted in the play titled 补天计划, where she had 3 roles...

The Cleaner

(note Dad in the foreground)

The Participant @ Block Party

As a MP :)

With the rest of Glowers

补天计划 - 谢幕

2009-09-12T22:53:00.003+08:00

补天计划 - Video (2)

2009-09-12T22:24:00.002+08:00

补天计划 - Video (1)

2009-09-12T13:19:00.002+08:00

Penang - Journey back to 80s Singapore

2009-09-10T22:14:00.001+08:00

As befitting my middle-age status, I sometimes reminisce about my childhood years, trying to sieve through an increasingly foggy memory to recall memories, sights and sounds of yesteryears. And it is getting more and more difficult. Visiting places to jolt the memory is no use because most of the pre-war buildings that we frequented have been either torn down or refurbished losing its flavour as a result.

One of my more vivid recollections is visiting the Upper Bukit Timah area quite often in my childhood. That was because it was the nearest shopping belt apart from going to the city or Chinatown. The belt-stretch starts where the Ten-Mile Junction is sited now and extends all the way to where MINDEF is. Shops and buildings do extend both ways from this stretch but are less busy and patronised.

This row of two-storey shophouses was where our books, school shoes, spectacles etc. were purchased. On the eastern side behind the row of shophouses, there used to be small hills and I recall mum bringing me to visit a quite famous sinseh (TCM practioner) when I was unwell. There were also many coffeeshops with most of them at the corner streets where traffic was the busiest.

So I felt immediately at home and extremely nostalgic at Penang precisely because of of its 80s Singapore feel. The old-ness, the faded colours, the five-foot way, all of which seemed to have leapt off the pages of my memory.

The smell and taste of the food were delicious linkages to small and obscure bits of episodes filed away in my mind. The greying rain-stained building facade were exactly the ones I saw in 80s Singapore. Walking along the five-foot way, surveying the goods on display, dodging some of the items hung on the ceiling, the expectant look of the shopkeepers at passerbys.

To complete the adventure, we hopped onto a trishaw and it turned out the appropriate, albeit overpriced, thing to do. The slowness of the trishaw complemented the feel of the area around Campbell Street which are dotted with many UNESCO heritage sites.

乡愁 -- 余光中

2009-09-09T22:28:00.005+08:00

小时候, 乡愁是一枚小小的邮票,
我在这头, 母亲在那头；

长大后, 乡愁是一张窄窄的船票,
我在这头, 新娘在那头；

后来呵, 乡愁是一方矮矮的坟墓,
我在外头, 母亲在里头；

而现在, 乡愁是一湾浅浅的海峡,
我在这头, 大陆在那头。

不管

2009-09-04T16:56:00.004+08:00

张雨生有一首歌叫《不管》。歌里面唱到：不管，不管，让我们交换，你才知我心酸。

想到这两个字，和这首歌，是母亲告诉我一段关于她和外公的故事。父母结婚之后便在外公家住了下来。后来，有了下一代之后便买了政府组屋搬了出去。外公为此不高兴。

有一天，在邻里的湿巴刹碰面，外公转过了身子，不睬母亲。母亲说她眼泪霎那间便流了下来。

===========

当然，后来他们都合好了，我记得小时候母亲常带我们三兄弟搭巴士去拜访外公外婆。当时外公外婆开杂货店，我们三个便在那里玩上好几个小时。

父母与子女那里会有隔夜仇，只是一时面子过不去。雨生的另外一首歌说得很好，《我最疼爱的人伤我最深》。

人生是马拉松，日子还长，一切都可能改变，只是时间的长短。

很久沒和爸爸貼心交談,
卻發現他動作滄桑緩慢,
滿臉皺紋漫長,
見證我成長
內疚也心酸,
時間太趕,愛得太晚
想見的人,待到燈火也闌珊
為了不平凡,
忙忙忙會讓人盲.
贏到了風光,
輸去了我的心肝,
生命苦短,
人不過是人,
世界有太多東西流轉.
別把風景搬上天堂.

My new running shoe

2009-09-03T23:23:00.000+08:00

Bought at Komtar, in Penang.

小狗爱吹吹风

2009-08-30T14:08:00.002+08:00

Room to Read

2009-08-24T21:56:00.003+08:00

I was moved to tears while reading a book and eating my 小碗面 breakfast at the Bras Basah Complex food court so I had to stifle my emotions. The book "Leaving Microsoft to Change the World" was written by John Wood who is also the founder of the IGO Room to Read on which the book was based on. In brief, the background was that John travelled to Nepal, was appalled at the extent of illiteracy and the lack of books that he vowed to make it possible for more children in poorer countries to have access to books.

In one of the chapters in the book, John was in Vietnam and met a younger man named Vu. Vu works the graveyard shift (in the hotel John was staying) so that he can spend more time reading up and studying. John observed that Vu's hunger in reading and devouring whatever material he could come across when he observed Vu reading the manual of a digital watch (probably obselete). John, then still an executive in Microsoft was given the chance to show off his Microsoft Excel skills, but whatever John demonstrated, Vu could do the same process faster using shortcuts John did not know of.

John was impressed and wanted to help Vu by buying him a book on Excel. But Vu being proud and wanting to remain independent refused any help. John had to think of ways and means to 'trick' Vu to accept financial assistance.

In the end, John left a sealed envelope with US$20 as his 'scholarship' to Vu instructing Vu to only open the envelope a day later. Moments later, Vu knocked on John's door in tears. He had opened the letter, was so touched and finally relented to accept a new friend's help. After John sent off Vu and closed the door, John wrote in the book that "..at which point I collapsed on my bed and started crying with tears of joy, of hope, of optimism, for forming a connection that transcends words."

Holding in my chopsticks a fishball, I also had to fight back tears.

《太极拳论》- 王宗岳

2009-08-23T17:54:00.001+08:00

太极者，无极而生，阴阳之母也。动之则分，静之则合。随屈就伸，无过不及。人刚我柔谓之走，我顺人背谓之粘。动急则急应，动缓则缓随。虽变化万端而理为一贯，由着熟而渐悟懂劲，由懂劲而阶及神明。然非用力之久不能豁然贯通焉！

　虚领顶劲，气沉丹田，不偏不倚，忽隐忽现。左重则左虚，右重则右杳，仰之则弥高，俯之则弥深，进之则愈长，退之则愈促。一羽不能加，蝇虫不能落。人不知我，我独知人。英雄所向无敌，盖皆由此而及也。

　斯技旁门甚多，虽势有区别，盖不外壮欺弱，慢让快耳。有力打无力，手慢让手快，是皆先天自然之能，非关学力而所为也。察四两拨千斤之句，显非力胜。观耄耋能御众之形，快何能为？

　立如秤准，活似车轮。偏沉则坠，双重则滞。每见数年纯功不能运化者，率皆自为人制，双重之病未悟耳！欲避此病，须知阴阳。粘即是走，走即是粘，阴不离阳，阳不离阴，阴阳相济，方为懂劲。懂劲后，愈练愈精，默识揣摩，渐至从心所欲。

　本是舍己从人，多误为舍近求远。所谓差之毫厘，谬以千里。学者不可不详辨焉，是为论。

Taiji Lesson today

2009-08-23T17:35:00.002+08:00

Mr Yang shared his encounters with a Mr Ding, former principal of Ai Tong school. After retirement, Mr Ding was diagnosed with cancer. Numerous operations and chemotheraphy rendered him weak and the doctor had informed his family to prepare for the worst. Mr Ding did not wish to accept his fate as such and went to China's villages to look for answers. Apparently he came to a remote village and saw the villagers practising a form of exercise. Curious, he asked one lady and was told that all of the villagers were all cancer patients. He stayed on and learnt the exercise. According to Mr Yang, Mr Ding's cancer went into remission and he is still alive today. Mr Ding agreed to teach Mr Yang the exercise provided that Mr Yang promised to teach others.

Mr Yang then offered his personal experience. After his father and then his elder brother passed away with cancer, he began to worry that he also had cancer one day when he felt pain in the right side of his chest. Many tests later would show that he was not suffering from cancer.

But he said the experience thought him that one's will or frame of mind affects one's wellbeing. When he thought he had contracted cancer, he began to feel weak, depressed and desperate. But when he was cleared of cancer, it was like turning on a light in a dark room, he felt strong immediately.

Another learning point today was when he shared Taiji's grand ancestor Mr Wang Zongyue's Taiji Thesis. I asked him about one phrase "意气君，肉骨臣 ". The crux of the phrase is on what is "君" and what is "臣". The phrase therefore means that the will and spirit （意气）should be the master （君）and therefore lead the body（肉骨）.

补天计划 - 宣传

2009-08-21T21:53:00.002+08:00

上报！预防嗜赌大使

2009-08-18T22:44:00.004+08:00

说说就好

2009-08-12T21:46:00.002+08:00

说了又不听

听了又不懂

不懂又不问

问了又不做

做了又做错

错了又不认

认了又不改

改了又不服

不服又不说

鄭子太極拳，鄭曼青與楊澄甫

2009-08-10T23:23:00.000+08:00

郑曼青教导太极拳

2009-08-10T23:17:00.000+08:00

郑曼青演示太极拳

2009-08-10T23:13:00.000+08:00

Luxury Dates from Qatar

2009-08-10T17:53:00.003+08:00

Sis-in-law LL recently returned from a business trip to Qatar. Owing to this, I had the good fortune of tasting some tasty and sweet middle eastern dates.

Dates are the staple food of the middle-eastern people. I like dates because they are immensely sweet and nutritious. This version that LL shared had been de-seeded and restuffed with various combinations of nuts which works very well.

Growing Up with Luncheon Meat

2009-08-01T21:49:00.001+08:00

Canned food was a regular accompaniment to my childhood meals, and although my parents did provide us with ample fresh meat and vegetables from the wet market, canned varieties such as fish with black beans, button mushrooms, sardines and especially luncheon meat added variety and taste.

How did we do luncheon meat?

1) Fried and dipped with tomato sauce
2) Dipped in egg batter and fried
3) Steamed and eaten with rice or bread
4) Cubed and stewed with carrots, potatoes and onions in a combination my father called "Seetoh" (I think it is a play on the word 'stew')

Photos of Taiji lesson

2009-07-19T15:23:00.003+08:00

揽雀尾 -- 按

NPCC

2009-07-18T22:21:00.005+08:00

NPCC stands for National Police Cadet Corps, and it is an extra curricular activity that secondary students can pick up. Compared to the NCC or National Cadet Corps (aka student soldiers), NPCC focuses a lot more on foot drill. For this express purpose, the soles of the boot are affixed (at the student's own cost) with a metal horse-shoe at the heel and three pieces of metal at the front to produce a clicking sound when the shoe comes into contact with the ground. When marching in unison, the squad or platoon makes delightful percussion.

NPCC was not my first choice ECA in RVHS though. I signed up for NCC-Air despite already having terrible eyesight at the tender age of 13 and also despite knowing that anything less than almost perfect eyesight means not being accepted. I think I signed up because of a friend. My friend got in and I did not.

Then I tried to sign up for NCC but the Secondary 1 Squad was already filled up; such was its popularity.

So NPCC it was. And I was welcomed with open arms.

ECA in those days was on Saturdays. Our program typically starts early morning around 8am to 8.30am with a PT session. More often than not, this will be followed by frantic changing into the police uniform (there is not even time to change in the toilet) for one to two hours of solid foot drill under the increasingly hotter sun. Part of the fun was learning the Malay drill commands. Even today, I can still rememeber all the complex Malay commands. The ultimate command for most of us was for sizing, i.e. to bring about a nice V 'sized' platoon when viewed from the front, with the taller ones on each side.

Let me try to recall, lousy spelling notwithstanding, the mouthful command: Yang tinggi ke-kenan, renda ke-keri, dalam satu barisan, khra! (It means tallest to the right, shortest to the left, form a single file, move it!) There are four other commands before the desired shape of the platoon is formed, but don't let me bore you.

Related to foot drill is the exacting standards of how the shoe should shine. And that is to be able to see the reflection of one's teeth. I kid you not. It takes a few years to perfect this state of shine.

The art of polishing ventures beyond simply applying 'kiwi' to brush.

Our superior technique includes burning the kiwi covered shoe with an open flame from a candle to coat the surface of the shoe with a even layer of kiwi. This has to be done very carefully to achieve a smooth surface -- sometimes the shoe can catch fire! Next, after allowing the molten kiwi to cool and harden, use a piece of cotton cloth, dip into some kiwi and polish in a small circular motion. Sometimes, a tinny bit of water will help elevate the shine to an even higher notch. This activity typically takes place on the Friday night and can last hours. You had no choice but invest in the effort because a less than desirable standard will mean 'knocking-it-down' -- push ups! We did hundreds of push ups every week. My NCO said polishing shoes builds patience and character.

We also have lectures then on subjects such as campcraft and first aid. In real life, campcraft came in rather useful on many occasions when the need arose to tie knots for various purposes. My knowledge of the reef knot, highwayman's knot, timber hitch and lashing proved to be valuable life skills. As for first aid, I have not encountered the need to provide CPR nor tie a bandage so I cannot say these knowledge was equally valuable.

Back to Basics

2009-07-17T23:11:00.004+08:00

Just last week, my taiji teacher was saying, as you go through life, you realise what's more important or essential and shed the unimportant stuff, like unnecssary layers. An analogy he gave was he used to like to pick the finer fish to eat, like 'ang kau' (I actually don't now what kind of fish this is). But now, he realised that as long as the fish is fresh, the flesh will be sweet. Woah...a touch of zen!

Uncannily, I had a taste of this today.

My expensive Omega watch had let me down. Meant to be a diver's watch, but after a few weeks of swimming at the neighbourhood pool, yesterday morning I realised that moisture has seeped into the watch and mist could be seen under the glass face.

I sent in the watch for servicing and was told that the wait could be 12 weeks.

So, the lesson learnt for me is for a watch, as long as it can tell time accurately, it is a good watch. So I went to get this $28 Casio watch which tells the time perfectly and can be worn to the local pool and water resistant up to 50 metres.

Early morning, public bus rides, memories of school days

2009-07-17T22:50:00.003+08:00

Reading Bro Jinbo's post has insipred me to bog on my experiences :p

Getting up super early was never an issue when we were younger... now getting up at 6:30 proves a challenge every working day :)

Bus ride were tiring but fun, esp if you got fellow classmates taking the same ride. My sec school, Swiss Cottage was along Bt Timah road. Also a hour to 1.5 hours of bus ride or longer, depending on weather and traffic conditions... neber encountered any floods though, would have love the experience :p

I enjoyed most my rides on bus service 170, where they used to have bus conductor... watching them working their way thru the crowded bus, collecting fares and issuing bus tickets (punching holes along the way).

On Sat where I would wake up super super early to catch the first bus to school to prepare for my ECA. Never once feel tired or regreted having to wake up early... wonder why???

On the issue of education... my results were never any good compared to both my elder brothers... Chinese High & River Valley were out of my league... been able to enroll for Swiss Cottage was like striking lottery :)

My parents hopes for me were simple then... maybe too good to me... just pass can liao... and I met their target :) It was only in my final year of Polytechnic did I "jump" out of this mental box to try to improve my scores. Did pretty well, even manage to complete my Final Year Project which was good enough for the Poly Open House exhibition.

And only when I started working, did I truly realise the importance of a good paper qualification. Having "fought" the corporate war for 10 years, I got my fair share of experiences which I would blog abt soon.

For now... the Zzzz babe is luring me to catch up with her (no more Zzzz monster, Zzzz babe is better for a good nite rest)

Long daily bus trips

2009-07-16T23:31:00.005+08:00

Not now of course, although in present modern Singapore there still are long journeys one can make on a bus, with some services taking impossibly inefficient routes to pass along more streets.

I spent four years of my life a happy student in River Valley High School. In those four years, I probably spent the most hours on the road.

As I qualify for a SAP school based on my PSLE results, my first choice was the Chinese High School along Bukit Timah Road (it still is there at the same address today). My elder brother studied there and most of my chinese friends aspired to be admitted there as well. My malay classmates who were all very bright ended up mostly at Raffles Institution.

I was not accepted in Chinese High. A side story was that my classmate who got the same PSLE results did, and the reason was that he was a gymnast; he later represented Singapore.

Anyway, I decided against an appeal and resigned myself to RVHS. It didn't help that my mum liked the uniform! My parents' place then was at Marsiling (just beside the old customs building) and RVHS then was along West Coast Road, beside the Pandan Reservoir.

For morning sessions, I woke up everyday at 5am, showered, got dressed and took the first bus, service 178, to school. In the morning, and on the first bus, traffic was smooth and there always were seats. I kind of liked the morning rides, with the cool dawn wind blowing in my face and the surroundings were still dark. I can recall all the landmarks. The oil refinery (?) just after the depot which emits pungent and strange odours. Metal Box along Woodlands Road. The two dirt tracks along Yew Tee, and one of them leads to a temple. The Fire Station at the junction before Bukit Timah Road where the bus will take a right turn.

The journey back home was dreadful. Service 178's destination from Woodlands was Jurong, which was the manufacturing hub. Everyday, by the time 178 reached Jurong East, where I boarded the bus for the way home, it will almost always be crowded. To add to the agony of having to stand for the almost 1.5 hour trip, the bus stopped almost at every stop either to allow passengers to alight or pick up more people.

That's not all the pain we passengers had to endure. Before the bus can turn into the depot at Woodlands, it has to pass through Woodlands Road which also happens to be the mother of all roads into the customs and Johor Bahru. Traffic sometimes got so bad that most passengers will elect to alight some 5km away from the station (when the bus got stuck in traffic and stuttered on) and take a brisk walk. My school mate Chongfu and I were among those weary commuters.

I can still recall those days vividly. But now with a smile.

Health tips from Taiji teacher

2009-07-15T22:19:00.002+08:00

I am very fortunate to be able to learn taiji from my present teacher; my parents and wife are also in the same class. Besides being very knowledgeble and competent in taiji, he also dishes out health tips on and off during lessons.

These are a few I have gleaned:

1) To prevent catching cold, make sure your shoulders are not exposed, i.e. cover them. Should prevent your feet from being exposed to the cold also, by using slippers even at home or wearing socks when sleeping, especially if in an air-conditioned room.

2) Hang on a monkey bar to stretch the spine like primates do.

3) Exercise the brain by softly clenching your fist finger by finger. This will train the different parts of the brain responsible for the movement of each finger. Particularly useful for the aged.

话剧

2009-07-14T21:03:00.002+08:00

Parallel Parking tip

2009-07-14T15:01:00.004+08:00

Source: Esquire Magazine

For detailed instructions Step 1 to 4, pl visit Esquire.

==========================

The first time I read this tip, I went to look for a parallel parking lot to try it. Works pretty well!

Sleeping Habit

2009-07-14T09:17:00.004+08:00

Seems like the dogs have developed similar sleeping habits... Zzzzz

Merlion in your house

2009-07-13T22:25:00.003+08:00

Merlion

Chinese Orchestra

2009-07-13T21:46:00.002+08:00

Since I am on the topic of Chinese Orchestra (my previous post on the drums performance), I thought I might search my memory on my dabbling with the art.

I think I joined my primary school CO in primary 2. I was following in the footsteps of my elder brother; my mum also encouraged me to learn to play a musical instrument. My brother learned the di zi (Chinese flute), I had absolutely no affinity with the flute (you need to be able to form your lips in a certain way to emit sound from the bamboo) so I settled, or rather the teacher settled for me, for the er hu.

I had some talent in the erhu. In fact, in my whole life, in many things I have a bit more talent than the average guy but not enough to be considered brilliant. So it was the same with the erhu. I stayed with the primary school CO until primary six. The valuable takeaway from the five years was the opportunity to learn music, to read music and to appreciate music, tempo and melody. I also had a good grounding in being on stage and because of this experience (and also my training as a student councillor doing PA duties), till today I never get stage fright.

Also because my elder brother did, I joined the CO at Woodlands CC. I received additional coaching and more performing opportunities. The two instructors I had then encouraged me a lot to pursue the art but as I reached seconday school age, the lure of a more physical ECA attracted me and after a few months into secondary school, I quit CO entirely.

I had found the weekly training quite a chore and realised that whatever talent I had had reached its limit. It was to be the same when I picked up the piano when I was 25 years old. But that is another story.

The Legends of Drums

2009-07-12T22:36:00.006+08:00

Mum very astutely bought these under-valued $2 tickets for a splendid 'drums' performance by The Percussion Assembly. Although the venue was a neighbourhood community club, the air conditioning was adequate and the quality of the performance was splendid. As the host himself declared, the standard of the amateur performers was near professional.

Furthermore, in additional to the performance, with the ticket, one gets a free buffet dinner. Thats why mum and dad looked so pleased! The only drawback was some of the aunties were still engrossed in their food when the performance began.

Parents with their friends.

Mum correctly answering a question and was rewarded with an NAC (National Arts Council) umbrella. The man on the right was the host of the concert Mr Quek Ling Kiong, Assistant Conductor of the Singapore Chinese Orchestra. Mr Quek interspersed the concert with nuggets of information of the various percussion instruments that were used, e.g. flat drum, vase drum and different techniques that can be employed to create vivid effects. For example, cymbals when clanged mutedly sound like ducks clacking. Cymbals can be struck and then thrown into the air to sound like firing of rocket-crackers.

Taking a shot with Ronald at his restaurant and also with mum's new umbrella. Times have improved. The CC in my childhood had one vending machine that dispensed Yeo's packet drinks for 40 cents.

Ling's Birthday

2009-07-12T21:52:00.004+08:00

Group photo with the birthday girl and the dogs. Note that the dogs were represented in all the photos.

My green IKEA pillow

2009-07-08T22:58:00.003+08:00

Feeling tired?

Sleepy...

Sleeping...

Dana's green pillow follows her everywhere.

Dana looking really tired and ready for bed.

Love of books

2009-07-07T22:59:00.005+08:00

I love books, and I love to buy books, if only to enjoy in the fraction of a second the pleasure of owning one.

I must thank my parents for this healthy indulgent of mine, of which my wife is equally indulgent of me nowadays, by bringing me regularly to bookshops when I was in primary school. I recall with some vividness our journeys to Bras Basah Complex where my brothers and I will spend a happy weekend-day visiting Popular and a small Chinese bookshop on the 1st floor (which is still operating today). I also recall my father driving us to a 2nd-hand book shop at Yishun New Town to indulge us in reading and buying the entire series of The Famous Five and many other Enid Blyton creations. For our generation then without internet and two TV channels, printed words were our only door to limitless imagination, which a young boy craves.

I must also thank my friends in primary school for nurturing my love of books by freely lending me books from their collection, a favour which I gladly returned.

In primary school, we had a small and not very well stocked library and visiting times to it and number of books that can be borrowed were controlled. I remember visiting the library in the mornings when I was in the afternoon session, hiding some of the better books so that I could borrow it the next time my allocated quota allowed me (this is wrong I know btw).

I also recall with much fondness book fairs in school. That was when I would spend some of my savings on interesting reads especially for offerings from the now defunct Bookworm Club. I would hang around the book fair for the entire morning or afternoon devouring the books I could not own but was determined to make an acquaintance with.

Sharing my breakfast with ...

2009-07-02T18:38:00.009+08:00

This was my breakfast...
See who came by and asked for a bite...

I shared my entire hash brown, from my McGriddles Meal, with my new friend Mr Peacock. He really loved it. Well, everybody likes deep fried food.

Let's take a closer look at this handsome fellow.

Don't bother my sleep

2009-07-01T21:15:00.002+08:00

You just cannot change people

2009-06-26T20:59:00.005+08:00

At the 1967 convocation dinner of the then University of Singapore, MM Lee (then PM) gave a speech to the new graduates.

I quote one interesting paragraph:

"But no single anecdote, I think, illustrates the problem more vividly than this. He recounted the fortunes of a great surgeon who occupies a position of great eminence in civilian life. He was fully aware of what he required by way of his diet. Yet he could not control his craving for cigarettes, and he bartered precious calories for cigarettes. He knew that he would die but he went on doing it. And he died. "

This is not only true of the many many smokers still out there today, but the rule applies to me as well. You see, I love fatty meat, pork lard and prawn heads, all the unhealthy stuff. I am probably going to suffer one day because of this, I try to control but nothing is going to keep me away.

So this is a mental thing, of the mind and rather complicated. I am not going to try to explain this but I think it applies to emotions as well, attachment to certain states of mind that no amount of persuasion nor logic will change.

Not that people will never change, because human beings do have the positive capacity to be influenced for the better. But this needs time, opportunity and possibly strategy. In the meantime, for me, just let things be.

[Post Note on 27 Jun 09: While playing badminton this afternoon, I think there are two qualifiers on my above post. First, that if people show the desire to learn or to change, we must help them, because they have given you a reason to. Second, reflecting on myself, the learning point is to always show to the people around you that you welcome their comments and criticisms, or lose the benefit of their counsel.]

乒乓的魅力

2009-06-21T23:20:00.001+08:00

父亲的新武器

2009-06-21T22:09:00.003+08:00

父亲近来爱上了乒乓运动，每个星期五下班后都和同事狠狠地打上好几个小时。随着技术的进步和兴趣的提升，现在用的从中国买的‘双喜’牌拍有一点力不从心。朋友介绍了表现较佳的拍子，今天下午便和父亲到‘书城’的一间运动器材店选‘武器’。

我小学时也常打乒乓，用的是当年父亲买的双喜拍，想想在校园后的乒乓桌上我的拍子带给我许多快乐。今天，很高兴轮到我有机会买拍给父亲。父亲选了喜欢的板和胶，让店员把胶黏在板上，我们在一旁看着这一把新武器的诞生。照片上的乒乓拍，漂亮吧！柄上还有精致的设计。

运动，特别是集体的，有以下的好处：

一，维持身体的健康。

二，通过运动，身体会制造钙，对防止像骨质疏松症的疾病有帮助。

三，促进人与人的沟通。人是群体的动物，我们都需要朋友，特别是年纪大时，可能比较难交新朋友，运动是交朋友的好桥梁。

Vitas 超级男高音

2009-06-20T00:38:00.000+08:00

我决定每天都要吃早餐!

2009-06-18T22:26:00.002+08:00

因为电台 1003 文鸿大力推荐，所以回家第一时间便寻找这个MTV。

一切由自己开始

2009-06-18T21:59:00.001+08:00

就一般的人际交往说，如果习惯先要求别人就是陷入一个误区了。

你要别人爱你，你就得给别人以理由。我们周围的人都是普通人，没有圣贤。人家为什么要喜欢你？为什么要做你的好朋友？不给人家一个理由是不行的。

为什么先要别人接纳自己，而不是自己先去接纳别人？为什么要求别人先给予，而自己不先付出？人可以要求自己先付出，但不能这样要求别人。你说是不是？

~ 摘自开复网

有意思的话

2009-06-16T21:55:00.004+08:00

1. 固步自封的人才会永远不犯错误.

2. 学校传授的不是知识, 而是学习方法.

3. 创造的秘诀是博采众长.

4. 人的价值不在于他能获取什么, 而在于他能奉献什么. 不要只做一个成功的人, 还要努力做有价值的人.

5. 最重要的事情, 不要停止疑问.

6. 人有选择的自由, 但是人没有不选择的自由.

7. 记住该记住的, 忘记该忘记的, 改变不能改变的, 接受不能接受的.

~ 摘自开复网

Analogy of how to keep one's back straight

2009-06-15T22:30:00.004+08:00

After saying goodbye to wushu, it is hello taiji. We went for our first class last Sunday. I was a little worried beforehand on the quality of CC teachers but thankfully the teacher was very experienced and sincere. Besides sharing the movemenets, he shared the theoretical side of the martial art form, especially how it helps in wellbeing and health.

I remember an excellent analogy he used.

To remind practitioners to keep their backs straight, the typical example given is to imagine one's hair is being pulled up. But for someone who has never had such an experience, it is quite difficult to imagine.

But this teacher had an interesting analogy with a local flavour. He said to imagine you are a kaciam puteh seller. I am quite fortunate to have observed, in my very very tender years, the vanishing sight of a kaciam puteh man, head-dress and all, balancing the 1 metre diameter tray on top of his head.

Now, that's easy to imagine. And you better keep that back straight.

Chinese Badminton Team MTV

2009-06-14T23:25:00.001+08:00

《了凡四训》摘要

2009-06-13T22:59:00.001+08:00

就算命中应该荣华发达，还是要常常当作不得意想。就算碰到顺当吉利的时候，还是要常常当作不称心，不如意来想。就算眼前有吃有穿，还是要当作没钱用，没有房子住想。就算旁人喜欢你，敬重你，还是要常常小心谨慎，做恐惧想。就算你家世代有大声名，人人都看重，还是要常常当做卑微想。就算你学问高深，还是要常常当做粗浅想。

　　这六种想法，是从反面来看问题，能够这样虚心，道德自然会增进，福报也自然会增加。

　　讲到远，应该要想把祖先的德气，传扬开来；讲到近，应当想父母若有过失，要替他们遮盖起来；这里即是说明孟子的‘父为子隐，子为父隐’的大义所在；讲到向上，应该要想报答国家的恩惠；讲到对下，应该要想造一家的福；说到对外，应该要想救济别人的急难；说到对内，应该要想预防自己的邪念和邪想。

　　这六种想法，都是从正面来肯定问题，能够常常如此的存心，必然能成为正人君子。

　　一个人必须要每天知道自己有过失，才能天天改过，若是一天不知道自己的过失，就一天安安逸逸的算自己没过失。如果每天都无过可改，就是每天都没有进步；天底下聪明俊秀的人实在不少，然而他们道德上不肯用功去修，事业不能用功去做；就只为了因循两个字，得过且过，不想前进，所以才耽搁了他们的一生。

子曰

2009-06-11T23:15:00.002+08:00

孔子的中心思想是个

仁

仁的表现是

己欲立而立人

己欲达而达人

己所不欲

他勿施于人

Wee Kim Wee's Three Rules

2009-06-09T21:37:00.005+08:00

Our late President Wee Kim Wee never had a chance to study in a university, but in his later years was accorded an honorary degree by NUS. In his speech, President Wee shared three rules which he has lived by in his adult life.

Rule 1: Be contented and happy. He said,"You will soon learn that in the world we live in today, peace of mind is not only very important but crucial. The alternative is "stress"...

Rule 2: Treat every person, no matter how lowly he may be,as a fellow human being.

Rule 3: Practice the virtue of humility.

On the 1st rule, I remembered a saying by Master Zheng Yan who said,"一个人的快乐，不是因为他拥有得多，而是因为他计较得少."

I also recalled one of Panda Xiong's song: 因为太去在意，烦恼永不停。越是得不到，越在意。。。

Source: http://www.lib.nus.edu.sg/nusbiodata/bioweekw1994.htm

世界上最遥远的距离

2009-06-08T22:29:00.004+08:00

世界上最遥远的距离

不是生与死，

而是我站在你面前，

你却不知道我爱你。

-- 张小娴

放屁放成艺术

2009-06-07T16:03:00.003+08:00

笑一笑，少一少！

Dana giving up on the egg

2009-06-04T23:27:00.004+08:00

This was before she attempted, in the earlier post, to swallow the entire egg.

Video: Dana with hard-boiled egg

2009-05-31T23:28:00.003+08:00

Dana likes her occasional treat of hard-boiled eggs. But faced with a complete uncut egg, she is confused. What do I do with a whole egg? Swallow it?

摄影班

2009-05-31T15:25:00.009+08:00

爸妈最近参加了联络所举办的摄影班。看一看他们的一番杰作吧！

Pasta at home

2009-05-31T14:58:00.004+08:00

S and I have been trying out our version of pasta for a few weeks now. It started with me trying to cook and S being the taster, but the arrangement has happily being swapped.

My inspiration was an episode of 'Take Home Chef'. Curtis Stone demonstrated this super easy-to-cook pasta (hell, they all look easy on the telly) and I had to try it.

The killer part of the process is after simmering the onions and prawns (in my case), wine is added to create a fragrant sauce. As it turned out, we had some wine, albeit red instead of whie, that was just not good for drinking but will do the job for the task of the cooking class.

It did not stop at that dish because apparently S saw many areas of improvement which, in my opinion, had to be resolved by the better cook.

Suffice to say, S' culinary skill has improved steadily over the last few attempts. As for me, I realised pasta is perfectly matched with a glass of moscato, my favourite grape for the moment.

Dana rolling about on the sofa

2009-05-28T21:24:00.003+08:00

All because someone applied doggy cologne on her. haha!

Recipe - Grapefruit delight

2009-05-24T14:07:00.003+08:00

Performing the same task daily will either lead to a state of nonchalancy or, preferably, a moment or two of insight. Even though the messages of insight were probably something you have heard before.

Every one can cook, or for that matter, juice. The key and difference is in the proportion of the materials and the timing(of the cooking).

In juicing, matters are somewhat simpler because the only variable is the quantity of the different juices going into the mixture.

I am happy to share my recipe for my daily grapefruit delight. Note the proportions pl.

Ingredients
1 Grapefruit
1 lime
2 carrots (not the big big ones, nor the baby sized ones)
2 red apples (Fuji type are best)

Here, there is a mix of contrasting flavours which is usually the key to a good dish. The bitter-sweet of the grapefruit and the sourness of the lime is balanced by the different sweetness of the carrots and apples.

Try it and let me know if it works for you.

I need attention

2009-05-19T22:22:00.003+08:00

Dana has a knack of knowing precisely how to get our attention, like sitting on the very newspapers we are reading.

OMY 四季之旅！

2009-05-11T12:11:00.002+08:00

请点击支持!

New shoe: Asics GT 2130

2009-05-03T21:12:00.007+08:00

My regular running/walking companion, the 2007 Nike Air Pegasus is showing its age. It looks dirty and the cushioning is not as supportive as before. To ensure that my (weak) knees are given the best of support during my (almost) daily jogging/running, I decided to purchase a new pair of shoes. As Royal Sporting House is giving a 30% discount on this model, I decided to get the GT 2130 at $135.

Wore the new shoes out for dinner just now to 'season' it for real use tomorrow!

As I have mentioned in one of my previous posts http://liewfamilylife.blogspot.com/2007_12_01_archive.html, I have an almost vengeance-like obsession with buying sports shoes because when I was in school, I couldn't afford them. Thinking of buying the Nike Special Edition Air Pegasus 25 +....... still thinking...haha

Dana playing with new toy

2009-05-03T17:05:00.002+08:00

Dana making pitiful sounds

2009-04-30T22:17:00.003+08:00

We had a delivery to our place today. Knowing Dana's tendency to guard her territory by barking the house down, she was locked in a room with S accompanying. S took a video of the imprisoned dog pleading to be let out.

Queen Victoria Markets sights

2009-04-30T14:39:00.006+08:00

Of all the places I visited in Melbourne and Victoria, I liked the Queen Vic market the best. The weather was cool, the market was clean, the food was plentiful, fresh, tasty and priced reasonably. And if you liked fruits, that was fruit heaven.
The deli section of the market. Easily my favourite place in the market.

This stall in the deli sells pickled stuff, like olives.

On one side of the market, there is a row of shops comprising restaurants, cafes etc.

Front view of the row of shops.

Map of Queen Vic Market.

The pasar malam side of the market.

Quite crowded on the Sunday we visited.

All sorts and colour of candy.

Close up of a 'pulled' candy. The video below shows the candy being produced by hand.

Local wines being sold by the owners themselves. Visitors are encouraged to try the wine. I bought a bottle each of white and red. Prices are extremely reasonable.

Nuts and dried fruit being sold in the deli section.

(Below) Video of candy making

Food in Melbourne (4)

2009-04-30T14:13:00.007+08:00

Day 6
We spent the morning and a good part of the afernoon at Queen Victoria Market.
We had breakfast in the foodcourt of the Market. In my hand, I have the very famous hot dog which can be purchased at the deli. I also had big breakfast but it was not as good as the one I had in Phillip Island.

Another view of the food court.

For dinner, we had Vietnamese food along Swanton St. The shop was called Vietnamese Grilled Food or something.

I had prawn omelette with rice. Tasted exactly like our zi char furong egg. Guess I must be missing taste of Singaporean food.

Day 7

It was our day to fly back to Singapore. We would have visited Queen vic market but it was closed on Mondays and Wednesdays. So we headed back to Brunetti (along Lygon St) for breakfast.

S had the smoked salmon with avocado and sourdough. I had the, what else, big breakfast.

Brunetti is really worth visiting. Such a great variety of food.

View of Brunetti facing the street-side.

We had time to kill so we went to Mc Cafe to read our books.

For dinner it was back to Yong Ji for our favourite pho.

The menu.

Woo....hot, sour and spicy.

Food in Melbourne (3)

2009-04-30T13:57:00.005+08:00

Day 4
- Phillip Island and Mornington Peninsula
Trying to catch up with some reading during breakfast.

I had the best Big Breakfast here in Cowes. The bacon was thick and tasty.

S had celery soup and toast.

Our dinner was at Mornington Peninsula. This was the pumpkin soup.

S had chicken while I had grilled whole flounder.

A closer look at the chicken dish.

Day 5
- Mornington Peninsula and Melbourne City

In the morning, we headed to Sunny Ridge Strawberry Farm (near Arthur's Peak) to pick our own strawberries. Each adult has to pay $10 and given a punnet (like the one above) to fill with strawberries. Obviously the strawberries were very fresh but not all were very sweet. I also realised it was not easy to find good ones to pick because the fruits lying on one side on the earth mound will likely to be soggy from being in contact with moisture. The best ones were those hanging.

Yes, we washed our strawberries before eating. Our kiasu plan of eating our fill in the fields did not materialise!

We had pancakes with strawberries (with strawberry jam) at the cafe. Not too bad.

This was back in Melbourne, along Swanston St. We had spotted the small yellow sign declaring "President Clinton had two bowls. How many can you eat?". So we had to try this. The food was not bad and very well patronised.

Our dinner at a small Jap food stall along the entrance to Melbourne Station (off Swanston St). Since all the cooks were Chinese, the food tasted more like Chinese than Japanese food. Still, it was tasty and we enjoyed the meal.

Food in Melbourne (2)

2009-04-30T13:05:00.005+08:00

Day 2
- Apollo Bay and Ballarat
Our breakfast at Apollo Bay. The grilled tomatoes were good.

We stopped by this town (forgot which one) on our way to Ballarat. I remembered we had pumpkin soup and toasted turkish bread with chicken.

This was where we had dinner at Sovereign Hill in Ballarat. Totally forgettable, the dinner and the 'spectacular sound and light show' - "Blood on the Southern Cross". Please skip this!

Day 3

- Bacchus Marsh and Phillip Island

We had brunch at this town - Garlic Prawns Rice and Salad.

We were the first customers of the day so the rice was piping hot. Very nice.

Our dinner at this restaurant in Cowes, Phillip Island before proceeding to the Penguin Parade.

We didn't order this -- too expensive!

We had seafood platter for two ($27).

Lots of birds (sea gulls?) hovering over the dining tables.

After penguin parade, we had supper at Harry's Restaurant (or something like that) along the Esplanade. S has spotted an advertisement on this restaurant on the Phillip Island map and apparently it has won some awards. But the food was not good. Our seafood risotto had prawns that were mushy and smelled bad. I returned the dish and the waitress scrowled. haha.

In place of the risotto, we ordered stewed beef. More palatable but nothing fantastic.

Food in Melbourne (1)

2009-04-29T20:09:00.008+08:00

Day 0

We had just arrived in Melbourne and were a little disoriented, being in a new city and not sleeping much on the seven hour flight. Thankfully, when we arrived at around 10am at our hotel, we were allowed to check in. We completed the paperwork quickly, lugged up my bags and headed back into the cool air of the Melbourne streets.

I had wanted to find some nice restaurants to have a good main course but could not find any satisfactory ones. So we had vietnamese beef noodle soup or pho at a shop along Russell Street.
The soup was nice and hot with a tinge of sourness from the lemons. It tasted exceptionally good, possibly because we were very hungry. I would later return to this same shop before flying back to Singapore.

With some food in our stomachs and with more energy, we took a 20 min walk up to Lygon Street to look for the pastry shop Brunetti which my friend MK recommended.

Indeed, Brunetti was very impressive stocked with unbeliveable varieties of pastry, cakes, chocolate, sandwiches and a bistro. I had something called a lobster tail which was very good. The latte was $3.50 and comes in a small cup. A little too small for me.

Dinner was at a small joint along Swanston Street. We had seafood platter, entirely fried (forgot to take photos of the food). Very sinful first day.

Day 1
We were going to start our driving journeys today. After collecting the car, a Toyota Camry, from Hertz along Franklin Street, we went to the nearby Queen Victoria Market to pick up some fresh fruits and also some nuts for the next 5 days.

We bought strawberries, grapes (both green and red), peaches, passion fruits and a rock melon. We also bought honey roasted macademia nuts, cinnamon toasted cashew nuts, toasted almonds and some chocolate.

Here, we stopped by a small beach at Torquay to take a rest and enjoy the very fresh and sweet strawberries.

We spent the night at Apollo Bay.Our dinner was at the Great Ocean Road deli. The board in the photo lists the specials.

View of the main road in front of the deli.

We had a clam chowder and a special which was the Roasted Barramundi Fillet on a Mushroom Risotto with Rocket and mature Parmesan, drizzled wuth a Caper and Lemon Oil ($30). All specials came with a free glass of house wine.

Finding ourselves not satisfied, we ordered another special. This time it was the Sauteed Scallops and King Prawns with Cream, Basil and White Wine tossed with Linguini and topped with Rocket and Parmesan ($28).

That was a fine dinner.

The 12 Apostles, Great Ocean Road

2009-04-29T17:36:00.008+08:00

The 12 Apostles, a cluster of limestone formation is THE reason to visit the Great Ocean Road, even though only 6 (or was it 7) of the formations still stand. It is a work of nature.

We woke up early at Apollo Bay for the drive to Port Campbell, where the 12 Apostles was located. The drive from Apollo Bay was not far, but we had a long day of driving from that point on to the Grampians onward to Ballarat.Morning in Apollo Bay.

Loading up our Camry which was parked right in front of our motel unit.

We arrived first at Gibson Steps which had er..steps for accessing the beach. Unfortunately, the Steps were closed for repair.

This was as far as I was allowed to venture down the Steps.

So we left Gibson Steps for The Twelve Apostles which were originally called The Sow and Piglets (!) according to wikipedia. The name was changed in the 1950s to the current one. Good move I must say. Try telling someone you are going to see the sow and her piglets.

There is now a well constructed visitor centre.

The boardwalk extends all the way to the cliff on the right side of the photo.

Well, at least now I can claim to have visited the famous 12 Apostles.

Click the video below for a 180 degrees view.

Ashcombe Maze, Mornington Peninsula

2009-04-29T17:07:00.007+08:00

Welcome to Ashcombe Maze, the sign below reads and which is the

The oldest & largest hedge maze in Australia
More than 4000 lavender plants in our lavender labyrinth & display garden
1200+ fragrant roses in our Circular rose Maze
25 acres of beautiful woodland gardens

S in the Circular Rose Maze

I am in the centre of the Maze. Now, how do I get out...

Pond in the middle of the garden.

The lavender labyrinth.

Me and the hedge maze.