Zi Char in Owen Road

We decide to try out the zichar stall reviewed by Sunday Times in Blk 46 Owen Road. We tried the food that reviewer ate.  It was quite good!  We had sweet and sour pork ribs, cereal prawns, claypot tofu and dragon's beard vegetable.  My boys enjoyed the food and mummy who is quite picky is fair impressed.  I like it too.  The only problem is that I need to watch my weight.  So I skip the steamed rice.  I still eat too much.

The place is quite popular.   The place is opened at 4pm and we were there before 5pm and finished our food before 6pm.  By then a lot more people has come for dinner.  It is Sunday anyway and most people eat out.

Weight Issue

I have not blogged about my weight for some time.  Who wants to know about a nobody's weight issue.  My weight has increased this year's celebration.  The scale now read 91kg.  I will need to lose my extra weight.  Cutting rice alone is not good enough especially since the love letters and cookies are rich in sugar and coconut.  5 pineapple tarts is equivalent to one bowl of rice according to an article in Yahoo!  I had plenty of kueh bangkit, bak kwa and macadamia nuts.  Nuts are supposed to be the healthier choice but munching away every time I feel like snacking adds up the calories. 

I also eats lot of fruits.  They are healthy choice as well but rich in fructose.  I will cutdown on my teh si and teh halia.  My wife always tell me to look at the "mama" (Indian uncle) or teh tarik man.  They all have huge potbelly.  This is an indicator of how fattening the drinks are. 

My Chinese New Year resolution is to reduce my weight.  I shall not set a target not to disappoint myself but will report regular in this blog on my progress or lack off.

Singapore Students Have No Life!

Saturday is tuition day.  Recently, the newspaper has an analysis of why the TFR is so low.  TFR is the total fertility rate.  The cost of having a child in Singapore is $900,000.  Yes, almost a million dollars.  The majority of the cost goes to parallel education system called "tuition" or private tutoring.  Today is weekend and B3 has two tuition center to go to.  Morning two hours for learning Chinese comprehension and late afternoon, Chinese composition.  On week days, he has tutoring for English, Maths and Science.  So basically all the subjects that is counted in the PSLE, he has tuition.  I wonder what does the school teach.  How he does in exams depends on the tuition center he goes to.  The tuition centers hires all the young teachers.  They look like they are more capable or experienced than the teachers in school.  In fact, they look like young adults fresh out of school.  So if the best tuition centers can use "the girl-next-door" and is very effective and produced good exams scores for its student, why the main stream school cannot copy their programs.

The govt with all her resources is not as capable as the star tuition centers.  Ministry of Education should study the successful tuition centers and transfer the learning to mainstream school.  Meanwhile, my poor B3 is spending most of his waking hours shuttling from school to different tuition centers.

Eat Out

Dinner at AMK hub Food court.  It has been a long time since we ate out on a Friday night.  Luckily, the food court at level 3 is not too busy.  I was actually a little surprise as it was usually very busy and hard to get a place.  The resturants at the basement, Soup Resturant and Roast Duck Resturant had long queues. 

The night is young when we left the Hub at about 9pm and there is still a queue of cars trying to get into the carpark.  It is crazy.  People are just coming in in hordes. The night is just starting... I guess the increased in population makes it so crowded and busy.

Mum Returns to Canada

This morning my mother flew home.  It is going to be a super long flight at least 22 hours.  I am shudder to think of sitting in the plane for so long.  She is very bright and happy this morning.  She has her eldest daughter and youngest daughter to see her off together.  Air travel for passengers with limited mobility is quite simple with all the support of wheelchair and checked in luggage.  So she travels a lot inspite of her limited mobility.

It rained all day today.  So I did not get a chance to exercise. 

Visitor from Hong Kong

My ex-colleague in Canada who now lives in Hong Kong is here to tour.  She is so busy that we can only meet for drinks this evening.  It is not usual for me to stay up so late.  I am usually sleeping by ten... ten thirty.  Anyway, it is great to see her again.  She is working so hard and is so driven.  She did well in work and recognised in a few awards.  However, the re-organisation make her feel like she is being demote every time.   So she is not happy.

I am happy she took the time to meet up with me although it is late for me.  She had an interesting news from Canada, a nice juicy gossip that I am not at liberty to blog about. 

This afternoon, I lunched at Empire State in Causeway Point and guess what?  My grand-nephew was sitting at the next table recognised me and told his mum.  His mum then call me.  They visited me yesterday.  So it is an interesting coincident.

Last Day of Visiting

We visited my brother in our old home in Queenstown.  He brought home his 3 daughters.  My mum is there as well.  I received a surprise angpow from him.  It is his first time I think.  I took it since he gave it to me.  It is every day luck!  Surprising big!

My elder sister came as we were about to leave.  We had to go to my brother-in-law.  The place busy.  Aunt-in-law is there with her family, MIL and FIL are there as well.  Two sister-in-laws and their boys.  The place is crowded.  My brother-in-law has a lot of model planes.  He is into powered gliders as well.  There are a few ducted fans jets.  So it is interesting to visit him.  There are speed boats.  He enjoys life to the fullest.  He is now building up a camera carrying helicopter with four propellers.  I loves these toys as well.  However, I would not pay so much.  He has so many machines to build and repair all the aircrafts and boats.  After lo hei, we left and come home to roost(nap time!)

Tonight's dinner is like our regular dinner cooked by our helper.  My neighbourhood is noisy this evening as one neighbour has plenty of visitors.  He is doing business and probably all his employees are here.

In-laws and Cousins

My wife invites her brother and baby sister over for lunch.  She is always looking after them.  She helps to tie the shoe laces of baby sister's son instead of teaching her sister.  Sigh!  I wonder how my sister-in-law could practise to be a good mother.  Our boys help to shred the radish, carrots and cucumber.  Once again, the yusheng is very popular and was finished heartily.  It is such a healthy dish.

In the afternoon, my cousins came to visit mum.  They brought all their kids and grandchildren.  The group is more than 20 in strength.  We had a wonderful time.  Kids were curious to see the house and I showed them around.  It is a tiring day but good to catch up with families.

New Beginning Meal

Early in the morning, we go to our boys maternal grandparents to offer our CNY greetings and have our vegetarian meal.  My wife calls it the "new beginning meal".  It is the first meal for the new year.  The year of the Snake.  Snake year is good for Rats.  I hope the year will be good. It is a positive start so far.

My sisters are here to visit and it was very rowdy.  My boys are engaged with the whole family and their cousins.  My eldest sister and her two daughters plus her son-in-law stay behind for dinner.  We had a steamed spotted garouper and fishballs plus various seafood items soup.   I am glad we have a big family.

White Paper Approved!

It is business as usual for our PAP government.  All PAP MPs voted "yes" despite some of them voicing out their reservations.  There will be "modifications".  "We know best for you".  The benevolent dictatorship style continues.

Singapore has progressed and made leaps and bounds in wealth building.  I feel in the process we began to lose our souls.  Now that we have a roof over our heads and stomach filled, our government is driving toward better roofs and nicer food.  The softer aspects of life or heartware are largely ignored.  Our govt is driving Singaporean into becoming heartless accumulators of wealth.  Soon many Singaporeans will become rich but without souls.

Eve of Eve

Tonight is New Year's Eve's Eve!  Life is still as usual.  B3 had his tuition and B2 was in school.  B1 is home as his camp has shutdown.    I was just working as usual.  When I go and pick up B3 from tuition, the activities has slowed down.  There are 109 carpark lots in the big open carpark beside Court in AMK Central.  The food center is not as busy as well.  The commercial activities are slowly grinding to a halt.  By tomorrow afternoon, everywhere will be closed for New Year's Eve reunion dinner.  Only fast food chain like McDonald's will be open.  It is the only time in Singapore evening is shutdown for more than two days.

Tonight, all the boys are home for dinner.  They ate a lot of the CNY snacks.  We had plenty of gifts from relatives.  Cousins, aunties and neighbours gave us all kinds of goodies and we have to return them similar gifts.  We ordered home-made pineapple tarts and pillow shape peanuts cookies(kok zai) for them.  It is busy time as the Matriarch is doing spring cleaning.  B3 has to pack up his files.  He is sulking.  He wanted to make a stress ball using Latex glove and sand.  His mummy insisted he clear his files and store them neatly in his cupboard.  So he is upset.

All three boys have their own study table and cupboard.  They are lucky compared to when I was growing up.  However, when compared to kids in Canada and US, then they are not so lucky as they have to share room.  I just checked with B1 and B2.  They claims it is no big deal to have own study table and cupboard.  In fact, their friends have their own room.  Apparently, we are the "big" family as B2 puts it.  This means most of his friends and classmates are only one or two kids in the family.

It is Spring Cleaning time.  Matriarch is sending all the boys to change new bedsheets and comforter.  I know it is a matter time I will be called to action.

CNY Madness

Just try to get a parking lot this evening in Ang Mo Kio Hub was an immense challenge.  So I thought "let's try the big open air carpark".  It is usually half empty but tonight, the sign at the entry point flash "FULL"!   AMK Central is simply full with everyone rushing to stock up on the Chinese New Year grocery and goodies. 

Our intention was to go to Hub to check things out but with everyone else decending to the same place, we gave up and go home instead.  The mood is high and with the increased population, everywhere is a crowd.  Can you imagine what will be when we reach 6.9 million?  We will have stress-related diseases due to crowding alone.

Why Must Price of Haircut go Up for CNY?

Since young, I notice the price of haircut will go up during Chinese New Year.  I tried to beat the price increase in my younger days by not cutting before Chinese New Year.  I thought the price increase was on pre-CNY as most people like to have a "new" haircut for new year.  I was wrong.  I tried to beat the increase by cutting after CNY and the price is still at an increased price.  I do not know why there is such a practice.  At least the new chain like EC House or QB House have flat rates of $10 per cut regardless of Chinese New Year. 

I do not know the reason for price increase.  Are they like bak kwa or bbq pork where price increase everyday until New Year's Eve?  Why should the price be higher since the time to cut the hair stays the same?  Does this mean hairdressers need a CNY bonus?

Music

I have a few neighbours whose kids have piano lessons.  So we always get free live music.  Now the skill level have increase and the music sound so much better over time.  Our French neighbours also complimented our B1 piano playing as well.  So our estate is quite musical.  I like it.  One boy also like to sing and his singing is quite good now.  It is actual a joy to hear his performance.  The only problem is he like to sing in the middle of the night.

Happiness is Making Others Happy

As I blog about my mum being happy that I visited her, I realised I am happy to recall this event and write about it.  It is very similar to recalling and writing about 3 gratitudes everyday.  Seeking happiness is more important than chase for fame or wealth.  Although fame and wealth is equate to happiness.  To a certain extent, this is true.  Now having to worry about the next meal or where to sleep is happiness. 

Spending time and small amount of money on others bring more happiness to ourselves.  I'll strive to do more.

Mum is Happy

I visited mum today.  She lives with my baby sister while she is here.  She will be returning to Toronto after Chinese New Year.  I am not so good a son.  I do not spend much time with her.  She is quite independent now.  Anyway, absence makes heart grow fonder.  My mum is very happy to see me today.  I also gave her the new notes so that she can prepare the ang pows for the new year.  I am happy to see she can walk better and in good spirits.

Common Wealth

Economics for a Crowded Planet.  I am listening to this book now.  I am at the first few chapter.  It talks about some of the problems CIA's good intention American interests have created.  In fact, CIA meddling with other countries internal politics have backfired a number of times.  The only problem is these examples are only highlighted by an academic in a book for Economics.  The author works in Earth Institute. 

Earth is getting consumed by the economic activities of human and huge growth in their numbers.  The pre-industrial level of carbon dioxide was 280 parts per million.  Today, the level of carbon dioxide is 380 parts per million.  The rise will cause changes in the weather pattern and have severe impact on our oceans.  In economic activity, man blatantly disregard future and future generation all for $$$$.  Technological advances have allow man to continue to grow its number.  Farms productivity mean more people can be fed and city living mean higher density with more people.  We are all fed by consuming more energy.  So alternate sources energy is vital for human race to continue it existence. 

Reunion Dinner

My in-laws have the reunion dinner tonight.  It is a vegan affair and steamboat.  Everyone enjoys vegetarian food once a year.  My boys had a chance to meet their cousins.  Also the sisters i.e. my wife and her siblings have good pow wow and enjoyed their girly gossips.

I was tired and fell asleep amids the noise and bustle.  My father-in-law is well.  He is very happy and fit.  I can see he has recovered well from his open heart surgery.  My mother-in-law is busy preparing the dinner and getting the food ready as usual.  When we are ready to go, she will give us fruits and tidbits to bring home.  She is a very traditional mother and mother-in-law.

Massive Crowds in Chinatown

B1 suggested going to Chinatown after dinner.  He just wants to explain the Chinese New Year festive mood.  Mummy had a tummyache and decide not to go.  B3 did not want to go anyway.  So it all worked out well as B1 and B2 will be easier to handle if there is a situation.  Traffic in Chinatown is just a crawl.  It is impossible to get a carpark.  So we parked a distance away.

When we walk to towards Smith Street, it is just a sea of humanity.  I do not like crowds but just want to let my two boys experience how it is like just before CNY in Chinatown.  I was getting claustrophobic.  Everyone is walking slowly and looking at the items on sales.  B2 feel that it is like Jonker Walk in Malacca which is true.  Just that there are a lot more people here.

We finished our walk and go home at about quarter past 10.  CTE is so heavy traffic.  Saturday night is so busy.  Singapore do not sleep.

Blue Coral Crabs

Finally, we bought 5 kgs of frozen Blue Coral Crabs from Bering Sea.  They are quite fishy in taste but my boys like to try.  Last year, we bought from Cold Storage and had like 3 or 4 legs for $108.  So buying from frozen seafood supplier direct much better value except we have to give some away as we do not have enough freezer space.  We took out and transfer frozen chicken and soup to make way for the crab legs. 

Price always go up as we get nearer to the new year's eve.  So it is good that we are prepared and pay less for our food items.  Anyway, new year is an important festival for all of us and it is time for family gatherings. 

Anyway, back to the crabs.  The shells are quite soft and easy to cut with scissors.  The meat is quite fishy.  So I did not like them but the two older boys are fine with them.  B3 did not eat as much as he does not like fishy taste.  The crab meat looked exactly like those used in sushi making.  I am glad my boys can eat to their heart content.