Bone Soup

I was up early in the morning just before 5am.  So I go to the AMK wet market as the coffee stall is opened at 5am.  I like the bustle of merchants getting ready and preparing their products to welcome the weekend crowd.  Many years ago, I have to go to Adams Road hawker center to watch the No. 1 Nasi Lemak Stall owner preparing his food at 4am when I was recovering from jetlag every time.  Nowadays, I do not have to go to US and therefore no longer has the need to drive around early in the morning.

After my morning tea, I bought two big soup bones for $3.  The big soup bones are superior as they contain more bone marrow.  I boiled the bones for more than 8 hours.  The soup is very thick and smell "porky".  So I added salt, black pepper but it was still not so good.  I added dried parsley and complete garlic cloves for more favoring.

I put in deep fried fishmaws and fried gluten.  The pot is very oily which I like but my wife did not and she was not happy.  B1 take out the oil and the soup looked much more like the soup she makes.  I sliced the green lip abalone thinly.  The liquid from the can was used to add flavor to my soup.  I added dried oysters as well.  I thought the soup was not bad but all of us was quiet and I was afraid since she was not in a good mood.  We are all afraid of the matriarch.

All my 3 boys drank the soup well.  I am glad they enjoys my cooking.

Abalone Porridge

We are in CNY mood.  Do not feel like cooking as the maid in not very fast or competent.  So I decide to do easy cooking - porridge.  I love Teochew porridge but my wife love Cantonese porridge.  We have to compromise every time when we have porridge.  First, let me explain the difference.  Teochew style is the rice grains are still in its individual form and plenty of liquid which is "rice soup".  Teochew porridge has dishes like omelette with chopped preserved radish, braised eggs and tofu, steamed fish, salted eggs, steamed fishcake, braised peanuts, kiam chye and other salty dishes.  Whereas Cantonese porridge is rice gruel where you cannot see grains of rice.  Only consistent glue-like liquid like a thick soup.  There are no dishes.  You can add meat, meatballs, sliced fish, cuttlefish or 1000 year eggs with salted meat, intestines and other ingredients.  The "chok" is a complete meal with youtiao as the complement.

I cooked the porridge Teochew style i.e. stopped the heat once the rice has become fluffy.  I sliced honey bake ham into 1 cm squares and slice my green lip abalone thinly.  Then I heat up the porridge again stirring it vigorously to break the rice grains and added the ham and sliced abalone.  The porridge is grainy as it has not been boiled on slow heat over a long time.  On the lazy susan, I have small dishes of kiam chye, crispy pork floss, braised peanuts and achar with chopped peanuts.  It is a heavy dinner.

Toys

I loved scientific toys but do not play with them much.  Now it is so much cheaper and easier to buy from the internet.  I am browsing the low temperature stirling engine and one that can generate electricity to lit LEDs.   Now the toys are so accessible.  B2 helps me to buy the toys using his Paypal account.  The world has become small.

Negative Ion Therapy

As I am blogging, my feet are in a pail of water.  But the machine did not work!  I spent time trying to fix but it still refuses to work.  I added more salt, I added more water, I change the electrodes and still it does not work.  I am wondering what have I done wrong.  Maybe not enough salt.  It is so frustrating and hard to troubleshoot.

Hehehe!  I got it to work!  I was missing my wrist strap!  I thought I could do without it but no.  Luckily, the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_cuVVWCw-g shows me how to set it up.  Internet makes it so easy to troubleshoot.  I am a happy camper now.

This is the 3rd time I am using this machine.  I have not felt the effects of the negative ion therapy yet.  The rust like water make me feel it is dirty.  On the internet, there are both sides of the divide on this.  It cost only US$200.  It is worth a try for me.

Accupuncture

Tonight, my wife went to the Buddhist Free Clinic in AMK for accupuncture.  I decided to join her instead of waiting at the coffee shop.  The cost of waiting is the same - $1.  However, I get treated for backache whereas if I am in the coffeeshop, I will be drinking teh and it is rich and full of bad stuff.  Worse, it may keep me awake or make my sleep less restful.

The accupuncture was painful this time.  The sinseh is not like the previous guy.  Still it is only one needle out of six.  So not so bad.  I am happy to have traditional treatment as it is so much more cost effective. 

New Year Holiday Over

It is back to work Monday!  Many hawkers are still off.  However, a lot of them are back and we can get decent meals.  Chinatown is not so crowded when we go there for lunch.  I like it.  The sundry supplies like shampoos, toothpaste and toothbrushes are very competitive in the shops there.  So we replenish some of our dental needs.

I am very happy to see long lost relatives.  I have invited my wife's cousins over for bbq.  Maybe they will take up my offer.

Cousins-in-law

The cousins from my wife side invite her to their open house.  We brought mother-in-law there as she is keen to visit but father-in-law and brother-in-law are not interested as there is no place to sleep if they go.  It is about 20 years ago since we met.  It is an eye opener.  The 4 cousins are gain weight.  The eldest and youngest girls who were very gorgeous and pretty before is now middle age aunties.  Their kids whom we saw as babies are now in late teens or early twenties.  It has been a long time since we met.  The eldest cousin's boy is in AJC.  He is doing well in academically.  His elder sister is in Ngee Ann Poly.  The 2nd cousin has only one son in ITE doing Visual and Travel aka local tours.  The male cousin kids are working and the 3rd daughter brought along her boyfriend.  The youngest cousin has 4 kids - eldest, boy is going to Poly to study engineering, 2nd and 3rd girls are in Nan Chiau, Sec 2 and Sec 1 respectively and baby girl is PSLE this year.
After 20 years, it is clear we all have aged.  So after we update our boys, we took our old photos to show them in comparison with current and my goodness I have aged a lot too.  Once upon a time, there was a young and handsome man...

B1's Classmate Visited

This evening B1's secondary school classmate visited us.  He is accepted in Temasek for internship.  He is lucky and good.  We are happy for him as Temasek is a good place to work for.    He is reading Bioscience in NTU now.  He was in poly and now gunning for a degree.  A nice kid indeed!

Day 3 CNY

It is so nice not to turn on my computer the last 2 days.  I have been busy with visiting and visitations.  Yesterday, we went to AMK hub just to pass time.  It was busy.  A few shops were open and many resturants are in operation and doing great business.  I went to the Indian coffeeshop in Chomp Chomp and my teh halia cost $1.60!!  Now the price of teh halia is at ridiculous $1.40 and 20cents extra for CNY.

We have so much leftovers, it is going to take a long time to finish our food or more likely waste them.  CNY is family time.  My sisters came with all their kids and married ones with spouses.  I was very happy to host them giving them my signature soup. 

I spend my time cooking the soup with tender loving care.  It is fun to see them enjoying my soup. 

Reunion Dinner

Tonight is New Year's Eve and we have our reunion dinner.  All 3 boys are at home.  We have Yu Sheng with a good toss! Our main dish is the soup.  The soup base is 4 hours pork bones and it is like jelly when kept in the fridge.  I added King Soup, boneless chicken thighs, Canadian scallops (Hokkaido has radiation risk) and Green Lip Abalone.  The soup is amazing according to B3.  With the salad and soup, the roast chicken is basically untouch.

I enjoyed the process of making the soup.  It is wonderful to see them enjoying the fruit of my labour.

Winding Down

The mood is cheerful and upbeat.  Office activities are still busy but slowing down.  I have plenty of CNY goodies - very heaty and sweet.  I need to get wholesome vegetables to cook for CNY.  Usually cabbage and chinese cabbage.  So it is going to be a big mad rush with all the other shoppers.  I wonder how much do people really eat.  Most hawkers will be out for at least a week.  So it is important to cook.  It is healthier to eat in with less sodium from salt and msg.

My sisters will be in on day 1.  I have to prepare and cooked for a big family.  We will do simple this time as the head of household feel the maid is not up to scratch and I feel the same way too.

Pork Available on Monday

Usually, pork butchers are closed on Monday in the wet market as the abbatoir are closed on Sunday.   However, I understand from the butchers this morning that they will be open tomorrow and Tuesday.  Then they will close for Chinese New Year.  I did not know this.  Anyway, I bought soup bone and made my soup for reunion dinner. 

This morning near Woodland terrace, we found a multi-storey food factories/distribution centers.  There are a number of stalls open.  There is orh-nee or yam dessert, Portiguese tarts for a dollar and other deals.  The place is frequent by regulars and explorers like me!  It is like go for tours.  I enjoyed the role of food tourist.  It is fun.  Only problem is my weight keeps on piling up.

I am very happy to celebrate the New Year.  May All of Us have peace and prosperity for the Year of the Goat.

Last Sunday before CNY

It is the last weekend of the year, the lunar year that is.  I will go to Woodlands to get supplies for the new year.  My sisters will be coming on day 2.  It is good that we can prepare the food and also they are contributing one dish each.  I may do my "famous" soup.  My mother rave about this soup the first time she tasted it.  It was distill from pork bones over 3 hours of high heat.  We used our cast iron pot, The Staub to cook the soup.  The Staub is a 33cm oval pot.  It is the largest pot in the retail range.  It is good for family feasting.

With the bone soup, I will add abalone, scallops, prawns, chicken thighs, mushroom and other new year goodies i.e. fungus, fa cai(hair fungus), dried oysters, etc.  It takes 3 days of cooking to get the soup right.  I enjoys the process of patient cooking and then when everyone loves the soup, the pleasure is peak.

Kallang Practise Track

Kallang Practise Track is just opposite the National Stadium.  The whole stadium has been revamped and I was totally confused by the new roads and no more open air carparks for National Stadium.  We have trouble looking for the venue for competition.  To make things worse, it was total darkness.  Luckily B3 was reaching the MRT station's exit.  So we wait there for me.  After we found the Practise Track, we noticed open air carpark beside it.  So if you know the place, it is fine.  If not we circle around it and still did not know we passed it twice!

B3 had his competition and he managed to qualify.  He ranked 6th out of 15.  Only 7 competitors qualified.  So he is second last but we are proud that he managed to get qualified as he is the first among his siblings to qualify for track and field CCA.

Long Jump Competition

Tomorrow, B3 first competition in long jump.  He needs to report to Kallang Practise Track at 6:45am.  His competition starts at 8am.  It is so early.  We will leave the house at 6:15 or earlier.  It is worse than going to school in the morning.  I hope he do well.  He is getting more practise and jumping better according to mummy.  But it is too long a wait at the practise track.  I am feeling sleepy as I gets up early in the morning. 

I am glad my cold headache is gone.  I went out to walk with my hair near the neck wet.  It cause me headache and was pretty bad when I was up in the air.   I should have known after living 7 winters in Toronto not to expose my head to cold.  Wet is worse as it brings the temperature down further as the water evaporates.

Back!

Blog Silence for 3 days!  Yes, I was in China.  Glad to be back to read blogs and write.  I was in Shanghai and very happy to spend a day with our China team to train them on products and selling skills.  Although the selling skills are not in the official agenda, I enjoys giving the team a flavor of what I think is the gap in all the trainings they had received.

What makes me happy is their boss who was not in the training told me the participants appreciate the fact I have experience in selling.  I am very happy to get this feedback and this time I did not feel tired after returning home.  Usually the lack of sleep and low air pressure makes me lethargic the next day.  Today, I am still feeling euphoric over yesterday. 

Yes, Ken Robinson is right!  When you do something in your element, you feel energetic.

Potluck Reunion and Kun Kings and Queens

My in-laws have only one son and many daughters.  So reunion is always before New Year's Eve as all girls are married except the eldest.  This year, reunion is at our place as mother-in-law is getting on with age and all the daughters advise her not to cook but host outside.  Last year we had it at a Greenland Vegetarian Resturant.  I offered my place and both MIL and FIL took up my offer. 

FIL says it is ok to have non-veg.  So The Wife decided on potluck as our maid is not that competent.  Baby SIL made braised beef and tendons.  Third sister's husband is a stay-at home dad cooked sambal prawns.  MIL cooked a few veg dishes and made a gigantic yusheng with vegetarian abalone.  My wife cooked her signature braised mushrooms and vegetarian soup.  Our maid cooked coined tofu in mushroom sauce.  We also heat up black pepper duck breasts and it is very popular.  B2 and B1 bbq the veg satay. 

We had a good time kidding each other about our secret recipes and cooking skills.  Then the adults gather to talk while FIL take a nap on our sofa.  Then baby SIL's husband also falls asleep on the sofa.  After my FIL woke up, his son took over his place to sleep.

My in-law's family motto is "Sleep".  All my sister-in-laws always nap when I was courting my wife.  After we were married, her sisters and brother who stayed with us from 1 week to a couple of years have the same behaviour.  The need to nap in the afternoon.  B2 was looked after by maternal grandma and he took has the desire to nap when he was growing up.  When one grandson came to his mother to complain about no chance to play on iPad as his older brother was hogging it.  Po Po says he must be asking mummy if he can sleep.  It is very interesting the sleeping and napping is so ingrained that even as adults my in-laws are still sleeping wherever they are.

Woodland Terrace aka Food Wholesale

This morning my wife and I went to Woodlands to buy food for CNY meal tomorrow.  We have to do lunch instead of dinner as I have to prepare for my flight to Shanghai.  I have to get ready as I will be giving training.  It is going to be interesting as my mandarin is half past six. 

We reached the food distributors about 9:30am and the place was jammed with cars parked on both sides of the road.  There are plenty of tour buses unloading people and the tour bus keep coming.  Many companies have sampling program.  The cash registers keep ringing.  Just for goodies, I bought more than $100 worth and it is hardly anything.  3 tiny bars of kueh lapis for $30, 2 bamboo charcoal honeycomb for $20, loveletters for $10/bottle and a couple more unhealthy snacks.  My wife bought tiramisu and smoked duck breast.  It was very festive.  Everyone is patient.  No vehicle honk at anyone. 

Its so much fun that I planned to go again next weekend. 

Glad to be Home for Weekend

The flight was full and the plane was delayed.  When I went to the gate, the counter girl did not scan my boarding pass.  I was wondering why as I did not check in any lugguage.  Usually, they stop you to ask you go to lugguge area to open up your lugguage if the x-ray machine detected something that did not look right.

This time, my boarding pass was torn up!  Then they gave me another boarding pass.  I was upgraded to business.  After more than 10 years in Solitaire, it is my first time to be upgraded.  I also paid full economy this time as this is a last minute booking.  So I think it is the dollars that count.  Still it is a pleasant surprise for the weekend.

Yakitori in Manila

We had yakitori meal in Little Tokyo.  It is the favorite place of my Japanese colleague.  My host brought up to the right resturant since we managed to get the bottle he bought and keep in there for drinking.  The food is not bad.  I had a good time and enjoys the conversation.  Yes, it is good to be with old friends.

Glorietta

It's been a few years since I was here.  I took a quick walk around and many things are the same and also many shops have changed.  I am disappointed that National Book Store has reduce the books on display.  Bookshops in all the different cities I always go to are going the way of the dinosaur.  Even Kinokuniya is in Takashimaya has a lot less books and foreign sections like French and German are gone.

I am waiting for my colleague to arrive and then go out dinner with him.  The hotel I stayed in is very nice.  One of the nicest I stayed so far.

Pistol Shrimps

Our saltwater aquarium has pistol shrimps.  It is really tiny shrimps but pops really loud.  We can hear the popping in the whole house.  The shrimp usually the popping sound to stun its preys and then eat them up.  We also have goby fish and apparently they work as a pair to fence off predators.  I can see tiny sea anemones and also I caught some really tiny crabs.  Now I feel I have a miniature aquarium.

Busy Flying

I am flying every week!  Next week is my last scheduled trip.  So it is good to have a break for Chinese New Year.  I hope I have no more flying for a month or two.  Will have visitors in March.  It is nice to host foreign colleagues but when they come in waves, it is plenty busy doing other people's work. 

I am grateful for my boys doing well in school.  I am glad for a safe day. 

End of the Week

Tonight is the end of the week.  I am glad to be home for the weekend!  Next week, I have to travel and the week after as well.  So much travel every week now until Chinese New Year.  Then I will take a breather. 

I am happy with the Japan trip.  The weekend is for me to rest and exercise.  I cycled and do some sit-ups.  This afternoon, had an enjoyable time with B3 at Punggol Point.  We caught more prawns and worms.  I fed my goldfishes and arowana with the worms.  However, now my pond is green in colour and no longer transparent.  I may have to stop putting what I get from the sea into the pond.

The small tiny prawns we caught make loud noises.  Apparently, it is the loudest in the ocean according to B3 after he did his research.  We had several baby crabs and a hermit crabs.  There was a tiny transparent prawn but it disappeared.

Tomorrow is the start of a new work week.