The symphony of frogs

When I was little, my dad, mum and I would take evening walks after dinner. I think those were the times that I treasured most in my childhood. We would stroll round the private estate (as we call it) and would eventually come to a playground where I would go on the swing, the merry-go-round and the see-saw. I think these are stuff that are fast disappearing from the playgrounds of today.

Before we reach our destination (the playground) though, there would be this steep slope and a big drain that we will definitely have to walk by. Dad used to make it really scary but still ask me to look into the deep, deep drain and he would point out frogs to me. Sometimes I see them, sometimes I only see them. Either way, I think they were horrible things and I never understood why my Dad made me see such things. Now of course I do, as it is part of Science and such. There were also sometimes lots of snails on the roads and Dad and Mum would almost always ask me to look.

As I grew up, I moved to places called flats/apartments and I had almost no chance of seeing such sights or hearing such sounds. Tonight though, I heard the symphony of the frogs. It would have grossed me out many years back but I now feel that it is music to my ears.

You see, there are many ways to get home and one of them involves me walking through vast lands of green grass between blocks of flats. It is a piece of land that they use for setting up a stage for the Chinese seventh month or what we popularly call "getai". It had rained again in the late afternoon today, as is so for many late afternoons now. Once this happens, I say "the frogs come out to sing".

I suppose it is a phenomenon and as much as I would encounter a frog face to face, I think the crooning of the frogs gives comfort to a lonely soul walking back home after work at night. It brings back memories and the good old times and sends warm fuzzy feelings tingling all over. It made me want to bring my kids over to experience this whole...phenomenon. They are sure to ask questions and be curious, like I was many years ago.

Have your heard the frogs sing? Have you heard them sing in sync? Find your own patch of froggy land and listen in. It's free and it is beautiful.

Waffling

I was sick and resting at home today until evening time when I had to get to my classes. Serves me right for not going twice before and using up my 20% chance of absenteeism.


Anyway, I think I feel better now except that I still have a 'sexy' voice. Last night, when I came home after the doc's, Dad asked me to take care of myself and not eat rubbish when I am out and about. I told him directly that I cannot help it if I have rhinitis or that my immune system is so bad.

This leads me to the question as to why I should be in this world in the first place. I think my parents made a very selfish decision to give birth to me (I know I would probably get bashed up for saying this but this is really how I feel). Selfish in that they only gave birth to me and then letting me be responsible for them when they grow old. I do not have any other siblings to share the responsibility with. Selfish in that I am alone all the time and contrary to what everyone else is thinking, an only child is not very fun to be.

Selfish because after they have only me, they continue to live life as if they were a couple and I was an outsider looking in at their lives. Well, maybe I exaggerate or I may be overly sensitive. Maybe they just want to give me my space, but they do not realise that my social life is almost zero? Or that I am very bad with making new friends? This leads me to what I am about to say next.

Recently, I have been reading a book about the autistic spectrum disorder and was wondering if I was mildly autistic myself. I was giving myself lots of 'analysis' and excuses as I was a really quiet child at birth and my social skills are not fantastic. I seem to have a slower learning process than others.

I have also been reading up quite a bit about the Indigo Child. Well, maybe all these are terms to coin people who are different from the norm and it made some sense to me as my mum was considered mature when she gave birth to me. Hmm...yes, I like this explanation. Makes me feel a little better about myself. Hahaha!

I am waffling, I know. I am normal. Or at least, I think I am. Whatever it is, I am responsible for my own life now and will stop looking at the past or blaming it. Sounds familiar? Well, it Stephen Covey said something to that extent and we just learned about it in class.

More pasta

Since I am on the subject of food and cooking, thought I should have this posted up too. It was dinner that I cooked some weeks back for my Dad and myself. It was sausage and mushroom linguini tossed in lemon and olive oil. It was topped with lightly browned garlic.

Yes, Linguini is my new favourite pasta since I was doing more tossing sauces and such. I did not need the fusili to hold the gravy :)

The salad seen in the second pic is romaine lettuce topped with the Japanese salad sauce called Kinnogomadare.

What's for dinner?

Dinner was Basil & Champagne Ham Linguini tossed in Balsamic Vinegar Dressing. It was topped with grated Parmesan cheese to lift the flavour of the ham while the basil gives the dish a nice twist. The shaved ham is readily available at Cold Storage. In fact, this is a housebrand and therefore much more reasonable than other types. I was eyeing the Prosciutto ham but they were just too expensive to stomach. This dish is simple and easy to prepare and yet, oh so delish!!

The 'hardest' part was cooking the linguini and chopping up the basil. The rest was just a breeze! I was also lucky enough to catch the promotion the last time I bought Parmesan cheese. They gave away free pasta measuring equipment and now I just have to stick those noodles into those round thingy to suit the number of servings I want :)

I dare not say that my cooking is fantastic but what I can say is that it is slowly improving and it's especially satisfying to eat stuff that one has cooked for oneself.

Bon Apetit a moi!

Next stop: Stadium

After brunch, I convinced Dad to take the new Circle Line to the stop called "Stadium". I had wanted to alight there when I brought Grandma on the Circle Line trip on the 18th (of this month) but she did not seem too interested and we had alighted at Bras Basah instead.

This time around, I was determined and Dad was agreeable as he did not want to drink the coffee from the coffee shop that we took porridge in (read previous post) and off we went, taking the NEL to Dhoby Gaut and switching to the Circle Line there. Dhoby Gaut is now super busy, it being the interchange of 3 different lines.

When we arrived at Stadium, this was what we saw:

One of the two stations with natural sky light. The other station is Bras Basah.


See the far end of the escalator on the first picture? This is what I can actually see, except that I had to walk nearer in order to get a nicer picture.




We shopped a little at Kallang Leisure Park and had our coffee at Wang Cafe. I ended up buying groceries from the Cold Storage there and as I was about to leave the place, there was an announcement to grab goodie bags as long as we have a minimum spending of $10. I quickly retraced my steps to collect my goodie bag and was happy that I got 2 of them! Reason being that my spending at Cold Storage was over $20. Wow! What a great day it was turning out to be!

I was happy too soon though for when I tried to top up my ez-link card at the new top-up machine, it failed to do so. I panicked as I did not see any station control except for this counter that looked more like a store room than anything else.

Thank goodness there were instructions to speak via an intercom to the officer. I pressed. Waited for about 12 seconds before there was a response and after briefly describing my plight, was told to wait for an officer to assist me. It was a good two or three minutes before I saw a figure of an officer, half running towards me. I soon got to know why.

The station control was right at the other end of where I was and I tell you, it could have been a 100m dash or maybe even 200m!! No wonder she took so long to reach me! I was breathing a little heavily after I was told to go there to get my card checked. Turns out that mine was not an isolated case. Ha! Systems. Do I know about them! I used to have to explain all the system boo-boos to customers and from that experience, I have learned that I need to give these staff a little trust and let them do their thing.

Apparently, if I used the old General Sales Machine (GSM) to top-up, they would have been able to check and re-fund accordingly (if any). But because this new top-up machine is by NETS, there is no way for immediate action. Forms were being filled out by the CSO (customer service officer) I had to fill in some personal details myself and then I had to wait. For two weeks. I suupose, they need to check with NETS and then ding dong a little before they find out whether money had been deducted from my NETS card.

I emphasise again, that if I did not work in a similar environment before, I would have screamed and shouted things like "I want my money back NOW!" or "How do I know that you are not cheating me of my money" or "Now that you have taken my receipt then what proof would I have that a transaction did take place?", etc, etc. Instead, I just smiled, nodded my head as she explained away and was very cooperative.

After that, I took a pleasant ride back to where I live. Happy and excited, as I was already planning what to cook for dinner.

Lost and found

What a lovely day Saturday can be when one does not have to work. Today was such a day. My parents and I went to Bright Hill Temple to pay our respects to my third uncle who had his ashes there. Then we headed down to Chinatown to have our yummy porridge.

Actually, in between, there were lots of arguments among the three of us as my Dad was being his usual stubborn self and wanted everything to be precisely right. Not forgetting that he had to have the last word to everything.

Luckily this time around, Mum was on my side as she was also on the receiving end. She chided Dad for being difficult and I took the opportunity to tell her gently to sometimes try to see from my point of view and not keep siding Dad.

It was a yummy brunch of pork ball porridge. The last time I went there, I told Dad that that was the only stall closest to the one that we used to eat and like. It was called Ho Kai Kee (Cantonese intonation). That particular porridge stall inside an old coffee shop had to make way for redevelopment as the whole road was closed and converted to be something else.

Dad had already mentioned that the man behind the stove looked very familiar and he thought it might be one of them working at Ho Kai Kee. This time around, he was more determined than ever to find out. First, he got a name card from his wife and surprise, surprise! His surname was (and still is) "Ho"!

You could say that curiosity killed the cat next, when he decided to ask her upfront. Low and behold, he was from that same stall that we used to eat almost every week when I was in Secondary school (I think)! Strange though for I could only remember the other brother who was the main cook back at the old stall. That brother used to have a stall at Bedok after the ended the Chinatown business, but later ended it too. That was during my Uni days I think. You can imagine my excitement and joy when I found out this morning that this was indeed the person from my favourite stall from years back!

This stall is at a corner coffee shop at Keong Saik Road. One can get a good view of The Pinnacle from where one sits at the coffee shop.


I think the Sunday ritual of eating porridge in Chinatown is going to resume very soon. This was what I used to do with my Dad when I was little. We would go to the Chinatown food centre and eat at this stall just behind "Er Gu Tang Shui" (Ee Gu Tong Shui in Cantonese intonation). This stall is called Wen Ji (Mun Kee in Cantonese intonation) and when we went back there to eat last week, the standard of the porridge has dropped greatly. I think, first of all, the old man has passed on, leaving the matriarch and her sons. Only one of her sons man the stall at Chinatown now. The other two have each opened a stall at Bedok Central and another food centre at Bedok South respectively (I think it's BLK 58).

Anyhow, we rarely ate at Wen Ji in recent years but more at Cheng Ji (Cantonese intonation: Seng Kee) at the Maxwell Road Food Centre. As you can see, I am quite a porridge lover.

I owe all this pickiness for porridge to the fact that I am Cantonese and when it comes to food, we are a little like connoisseurs. We can even take our mundane food very seriously and critique it to no end. At least for my family. That said, I know when to shut up and just eat. For one should be grateful that there is food to eat at all.

Yet another rave...about Circle Line

OK. So I cannot stop talking about it. The Circle Line is getting crowded!!! It has become the new babe of everybody, until of course, when it had a glitch yesterday. But life goes on and everyone who needs it will take it. It is so fast for me to get to school now that there is a stop called "Bras Basah". I always laugh when they announce the stop though, coz they drag the word "Basah" and make it sound like "Basaaw".

Anyway, I like the new feel of the stations and new seats on the train. Don't really like the fact that I have to fight the flow of human traffic though. While I am switching from the North-South Line (red) to the Circle Line (yellow), there seems to be so many people walking against you and it is really difficult to manoeuvre my way to the escalators.

Hee, and I like that my alma mater is being announced every time as it is the last station for the moment. At least until the other parts of the Circle Line is complete.

I must say, for the first time, I am truly impressed and proud of something in my home country. They have really created very nice stations, especially the Bras Basah station. As you take the escalator towards the exit points, don't forget to look up towards the ceiling where there is a see-through pool of water. It is best viewed during the day when there is wind. This is so that you can see the ripples of water making art before your eyes. This station is rather deep too and I have noticed that they have incorporated speakers at the side of the escalators so that one will not miss out on any announcements. Neat!

At night, on the big piece of wall that reminds me of the steeples of churches (perhaps a reflection of the Catholic churches nearby), they have multimedia projections of the artistic kind. This, I suppose, is to give it an artsy feel and is in line with the arts museum that is just above it.

Well, I might just go to the museum tomorrow night as Friday nights are free nights. Now that it is so accessible, no reason why I should not go there more often.

New oven: part deux

There is no doubt that there is going to be a "part trois", "part quart" and so on, but I am just so excited that I needed to pen this down.

The first items I toasted were of course, the breads from the bread shop and then this morning, I popped in some streaky bacon that I had bought from NTUC yesterday (see previous post) and two slices of bread.

I would say that I made myself a decent breakfast eating apples, one sunny side-up, two slices of bread, bacon and a cup of coffee. Aahhh...life is good, and cooking at home is good.

Last night, managed to re-constitute food taken from work (fried macaroni) into my own dish. What else but bacon and garlic? I feel that bacon is a cheap but delicious way to raise the value of your food. Just need to add a little to make your dish more classy and yummy. Garlic is so fragrant when browned that it really lifts the dish to new heights. Hehehe... I am starting to drool already and I should perhaps go work on a cooking show or something.

I also managed to make myself a quick and simple side dish: french beans with bacon bits!! I simply cut the beans into half and boiled it in salt water. Drain and add some yummy Japanese salad dressing called Kinnogomadare. Sprinkle freshly fried bacon bits just before serving. YUM!!

I intend to make more of the same salad for lunch this afternoon to go with the beef ribeye that I also bought from NTUC yesterday. Am missing some condiments like black pepper and cooking wine but what the heck! Going to make do with whatever I can find at home.

Looks like I am a Western girl, no? Well, in a way, they are easier and less messy to prepare. Will try Asian cuisine once I am a more competent cook.

Circle Line

I AM So IN LOVE with the Circle Line!!! Of course, it is completely new and it is fast!! Took it back home after work yesterday and it was a breeze until I came to Bishan.

I went to the NTUC at Junction 8 and it was so super crowded! I only half blame the people/shoppers for it you were a seasoned supermarket shopper like me, you would realise that the aisles of NTUC is narrower than those at Cold Storage or even Giant and Carrefour. The whole place was oozing with people.

What was worse was that I tripped and knocked my arm against the hand pole. The train jerked so badly when it was coming to a halt that I lost balance. Luckily someone supported me from the back. It was so embarrassing. Another reason why I prefer the less crowded circle line.

Back to NTUC, I have a love-hate relationship with it. While I have always preferred Cold Storage, I think NTUC is catching up! They were selling hams and meats supplied by Culina, which has very good expertise with quality cuts of beef, lamb, hams and anything European.

Nevertheless, I think I will still be bought over by the nicer shopping experience at Cold Storage. I don't get so worked up and haughty before, during and after shopping.

Cold Storage and Circle Line rocks!!!

New oven!!!

Told you I was getting more and more housewifey! Finally got the oven that I needed. Not too big, not too small. Just right to roast a chicken, bake some cookies and perhaps make a small cake.

This is mostly Nigella Lawson's fault, I must say. No, really. The maternal and housewife instincts are setting in. Except, I am not a mother, neither am I now a wife. But I do have a whole bunch of kids that I can teach baking to and make chocolate with. I think it is going to be fun trying out recipes before teaching them. I must say, I am a green horn myself, when it comes to baking.

I do not know what I want to bake yet but I have re-toasted my breads from Bread Talk and they are so yummilicious!

Anyway, the next thing would probably be a mixer, so that I can beat the eggs and flour together with. Kekekeke....

Shopping @ Ikea!!!

OK! So it is not all gray skies here at camp Livvie. I went shopping last Good Friday eve. Bought myself a CD rack that I had been eyeing since the day I shifted. It could hold like hundred over CDs and I desperately needed that. No doubt my CDs were already sitting in those Ikea paper boxes called Kassette or something like that but I just felt it was not a long term solution, having to open the boxes one by one to search for the CDs. Anyway, the CD rack (or tower, as I like to call it) is called Benno and is now standing tall in my room, next to my mini hi-fi.

While I was there, I managed to grab the breakfast tray called Nordby, which I have longed to have since the days when I was acting as the rat in The three samurai cats for Asian Children's Festival. One of my colleagues had brought it to use as a prop. Now, I am proudly using it as I type, to put my laptop on my bed. Hee, perhaps I can use it when I really do feel like having breakfast in bed, but I am a believer of no-food-in-the-room.

As my income has shrunk considerably, I now really see the importance of being prudent, but it really makes me think twice, even three times before I buy anything and it also makes me treasure things more. I had a good time window shopping though and nothing beats a good plate of Swedish meatballs!!!!! Yummy!!!!! Had to give the gravlax a miss though coz I was spending on a budget. From another point of view, that would mean that I was eating less. Hee! I also had to decide to take only 10 meatballs instead of 15. Just as well too though, for the two gentlemen before me also only took 10. If I took 15, I would really sound and look like a glut. Hahaha!

I would probably need another CD tower but that would have to wait till next month or so, depending on what my priorities are. Anyway, I am just happy that I got most of my CDs rearranged and I am listening to my old CDs instead of keep buying new ones.

Life thus far

I have been very quiet recently. Not that I have found new love or anything like that. It is just that I feel that there is nothing much to write about. My life is simply work, study, home, work, window-shop, home and so on.

All the encounters I had while outside, are all unpleasant and it will all amount to grouses, which I find, will become too negative. Perhaps though, I should start a blog about customer service. Still thinking about it as I feel that I have less and less time to work on a computer nowadays. When I do switch it on, it will be to play Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook. It is very therapeutic that way, you know. In the end, I neglect blogging.

Well, let's talk about the happy stuff then! A "Popeyes" has opened near where I stay and I am absolutely delighted! The chicken is yummier than the one with the old man as a logo. Heeheehee! Don't get me wrong. I used to like the old man's chicken but through the years, I must have gotten bored with it. Let us just say that their standards might have changed too and it is not to my liking.

The other happy thing is that the MRT Circle Line is going to open soon (at least the portion that leads me to my work place). I will commute via MRT instead of the bus soon. Don't get me wrong, I do prefer the bus to the MRT anytime. It is just that the traffic on the road is so unpredictable. I am usually caught in a jam here and there and there are stops where more people alight or people just stop at more stops (if you get what I mean). With the MRT, I can at least monitor my time more accurately.

Besides, this Circle Line goes against the flow of the human traffic (read: not going via City Hall MRT station). Therefore, I hope there will be less people. The really cool thing happening for me is that the entrance to the circle line is just two streets from where I work. It will definitely be a shorter walk after a tiring day at work!

I have already taken the trial ride last weekend. I will be working on the 17th when it opens for operation. I can't wait!