New Year Eve

Today marks the end of 2011. It is a year of ups and downs like roller coaster. The stock market is down by 17%. 2012 outlook on the global economy is weak with Eurozone financial crisis and weak American economy.

I still wonder if people still make New Year's Resolutions. Anyway, it is a regular weekend for us. B1 and B3 cooked poached eggs as edible experiment. B2 went out to play pool with his friends and then B1 and B3 took a bus to Lower Pierce Reservoir to catch lobsters.

I barbeque chicken satay and chicken wings for dinner tonight. After dinner, we have watermelon for dessert and also ate Lim Chee Guan's bbq beef. It was good to have all the boys together for dinner.

Great Dinner Awesome Meal

We had a total of three nieces joining us for dinner tonight. My eldest niece from my eldest sister and two older nieces from my brother. The boyfriend of my eldest niece is here as well. The highlight is Christmas Ham. It was very popular and it seems everyone likes it. It is fun to see everyone enjoying the meal.

Our boys enjoyed the mashed potatoes which our new helper cooked. She is good in making mashed potatoes. I enjoyed the preparation and serving. My niece boyfriend like the coffee I made for him. It is a little strong. I hope he can sleep tonight...

AGM

We have our estate AGM this evening. This is the first time we held it in the estate. We also have a new MA or managing agent. As usual, we have an SP who is not happy with the inconvenience about his car park situation. It is interesting that he look at from his own perspective and is not happy at all.

The good thing is the developer is here and I was happy he show up to give support and explain a new by-laws we have. Overall, the meeting went well and was done in good time. We close the meeting by 10pm.

$10 For a Chicken!

You can have it steamed, roasted or braised. Fernvale Point foodcourt has this deal. The rice however cost $1 per bowl unlike elsewhere it will cost only 50cents. However the chicken is a deal! The taste is not bad too. The chicken is actually quite small. Overall, it has more meat than half a chicken elsewhere. Regular chicken rice is still $2.50 per plate.

Kinokuniya has a 20% straight discount. So I bought 4 books, two for B2 and two for myself. All three boys are with us in Takashimaya today and then we have a homecooked dinner at home. It is great to have all the boys together especially when all are at home.

Maiden Dinner and Brew

We had our first home-cooked dinner by new helper. Her cooking is basically stew. She has stewed pork with cubed carrot and spinach. The other dish was minced meat with tofu and the cooking is the same style. So our tofu is almost a soup. Her cooking is different from our previous helper and is quite healthy and tasted fine.

After dinner, B1 and B3 accompanied me to the 24hr NTUC Supermarket in Fernvale Point to buy coffee powder to try out the Italian coffee pot. It is the first brew and I am glad we bought the "four" cups model. Four cups is less than one mug!! I realised coffee in Italy is served in a tiny cup and in tiny quantities. Their cup size is only one-fifth a regular cup here.

Anyway, the coffee tastes fine. I am not a coffee drinker, so it will have to wait for visitors to use and enjoy the Italian coffee brew.

Awesome Ride at PCN

All three boys cycled with me this evening in the PCN. B3 rode on the hybrid bicycle. We rode all the way to Punggol past the resturants before turning around. The bbq smelled heavenly. Now there is a KFC as well. The Park Connector is so crowded as it is a public holiday. Many families are out with small kids. Loads of roller bladers and cyclists. I wonder what will it be like once all the HDB flats are built. There are so many flats under construction and more areas are fenced up as we ride along the PCN indicating the building program is accelerating.

It is simply awesome just riding with all three boys. We have to ride in a single file. The ride was slightly marred by B1 being a little upset and keep riding ahead. Then B3 get upset with me for not hearing him when he want to stop to play with sand.

However, I really feel good that my 3 boys are riding together. It is best holiday experience. Way better than in Italy as B1 was missing in the trip.

Christmas Day

I went to Compasspoint early in the morning to check if the Christmas hams are on sale in Cold Storage. No luck this time. The price stayed the same. So I had tea in Ah Kun as Toastbox is full. It seems like Ah Kun is not as popular as Toastbox. Toastbox has some basic food menu like mee siam, nasi lemak or mee rebus which is good for breakfast whereas Ah Kun has only kaya toast, soft boiled eggs and hot drinks.

We have Teochew porridge for lunch and then go to our favorite mall Takashimaya for
"Jalan Jalan" aka window shopping.

It seems like the wind is very strong and gusty. My door slams a couple of times and it was too quick for me to react. I have to use a heavy weight to prevent the door from slamming.

328 Laksa

I was hungry for laksa and B3 like Katong laksa which is not spicy. So we drove all the way to Katong for our fix. Unfortunately, the authentic laksa is closed and we have to adjourn to 328 laksa on the opposite side of the road. 328 laksa does not taste as good as the original Katong laksa. It is also spicier and B3 has a little problem as he is not capable of eating spicy food. The flavor is mild and it is milk base rather than coconut and thus do not taste as rich.

To add insult to injury, it is priced higher than the original Katong Laksa. While it did fix my laksa craving, I would have to go back to Katong again.

Weight Down!!

Finally, my weight dropped below 86kg!!! Okay, it is not really true as I weigh in after two hours of cycling. Which means plenty of fluids loss. Still, it is great feeling to see lower weight after hovering for 89kg most of this year.

I hope I can keep my weight down. It is hard since returning as I am a see-food diet person. I loved to see the food and try them.

Mmmmm!

I refused the breakfast in the aircraft before landing. It is quite disorientating to leave on Friday noon and land on Saturday morning. Never mind about that. Even though I am not hungry as 8am is only 2am in Italy and my tummy should be in deep sleep, I go to AMK Ave 5's hawker center and eat a plate of fried bee hoon. It is yummily heavenly. Home at last!

Dinner is River Valley Nasi Lemak from basement of Lucky Plaza. It is really wonderful to escape from the monotony of sour tomato paste in spagetti or pizza. I can get spicy stuff and oriental flavours. It is shallow to be obsessed by food. But I am still a lowly human being with my human frailties.

It is so heavenly to be back home where my stomach can be comforted.

Lucky Malaysians and Singaporeans!

I am up early. In a cold place, the first thing I will do is to boil water. It is my habit to get a hot drink early in the morning. I did the same routine in Canada when we were living there. In the last 13 days, I have been doing the same thing - boiling a pot of water for hot drinks. Usually tea and sometimes coffee.

In Singapore and Malaysia, it is so easy step out of your house and hot tea and coffee stalls are everywhere within reach in less than five mins. Okay, we drive to the hawker centres or shop lots in Malaysia. Then we get a wide variety of choice at low price - teh-o, teh, teh-c, teh tarik, teh halia, ... And if you like designer's choice for people who need ego boost and snob appeal - caffe latte, coffee americano, TWG Singapore breakfast tea and the like.

Best of all, our water tastes heavenly. In Italy, the water in all the cities I have been are hard. So is the water in North America (US and Canada). I am happy to go home soon to drink greating tasting drinks and even water. (Those who know me well knows I hardly drink water;-)).

My regular coffee stall in AMK Ave 5 hawker centre opens at 4:30am. No cafe is open for breakfast before 7am here. We have a choice of fried bee hoon, fried carrot cake, wanton mee, nasi lemak... need I go on? In Italy, breakfast is crossiants or sweet pastries. No crispy fried chicken wings or curry vegetable to go with your carbo.

As I wind down my trip to Italy, I reflect on my observations. We are incredibly lucky to live in Asia at this time. There are lot of histories and past glories in Europe - museums are everywhere celebrating and displaying the works of great artists and scientists. There is great tradition and the electric trams still worked after 100 years. This trip open my eyes to history. I am glad to see and experience history. The future is back home in Asia.

Lucky Olga

I am not talking about the Ogre from Shrek. My wife was shopping for a handbag. You know the kind easily recognizable by other women and make them squeals wth delight if they are friends or green with envy if they are not.

Rinacenter is a departmental store like Takashimaya. All the major brands are there. Handbags or leather goods of any kind is not my cup of tea. So B2 and B3 stick with me to walk around for exercie and window shop. We ran out of places to go and went to the handbag store. The Wife was standing there patiently waiting for someone to the get the price of a bag. Finally, she asked a Chinese salegirl for the price. She did gave the price but snub my wife with "I am busy! Please wait!!!" I did not like this kind of attitude. So when another girl was free, I asked her to serve The Wife. She did so and was helpful to show different models and sizes. With my help, she decides on the model she wanted and the sales was closed in less than 10 min. Meanwhile the Chinese salesgirl was done with her prospect and watching from side.

We went to other level of Rinacenter to enjoy more window shopping. Not that we enjoy shopping so much. It is below freezing outside and it is so much nicer to be warm than to have our butts frozen. When we return to the hotel, I was pooped and go to bed early. B2 accompanies mummy to the stores again. They ended up in the same store and buy from the same girl. She is so lucky to chalk up good sales from one customer. She is so happy and gave her name, Olga to my wife so that we can look for her whenever we are there.

My First Souvenir

Milan is the only city where there is a departmental store. All the major brands are housed there. At the basement, the floor is dedicated to design. Many small sections with each company displaying items of unique design. Everyday things are transformed in art pieces - cups, candle holders, bowls, pencils, pens and many other things. Nespresso is very busy. Plenty of customers buying coffee and coffee makers. The tiny cofffeemaker with the individual capsules look like modern art.

I like this section and will bring my boys there tomorrow so that they can experience how a 10¢ pencil or 30¢ pen can be transformed into one that cost a few dollars. It is low cost art but high value regular items. The premium is huge and profit margin high. But the volume will be low. It is the way of the future. We will the trending towards a world of what use to be - craftmen and artisans.

The award winning coffeemaker which I had earlier is also here. My wife saw a stainless steel model which is induction compatible. She like it a lot and insist we should buy it. A two cups model cost €43 and a four cups model cost €45. So guess which model is my first souvenir from Italy?

Very Comforting in Milan

Milan is a big city. The streets are busy with cars and electic trams. Traffic lights control the flow of the traffic and pedestrian. The metro has many lines and the atmosphere and energy level is high. My wife has one word to describe this city - vibrant!

Milan is like a city in Asia, very busy and full of energy and movement. It is always in motion. Best of all things are in working condition. No broken lights or non-functioning escalators which are quite common in Rome. Milan also safer than Rome. Maybe because we see less beggars and shady characters. Also the street vendors have a merchant feel about them whereas in Rome the street vendors are tough looking.

Onwards to Milan

We are on our last leg of our trip in Italy. We will checkout and take a train to Milan this morning. This is one of the longest holiday trip we have taken. I am so glad to eat fried rice and fried spagetti yesterday. We ate at Tianjin resturant right beside Rialto water bus stop. Actually our hotel is also at this stop. It is vey near to the stop once you know the place. However, it is very easy to wander around and around as the street names are unfamiliar and not easy to find. We went roundabout a few times before we managed to locate our apartment.

Venice is interesting as it is the only city in the world to use solely water as a means of transportation. The garbage is cleared by trollery and transferre to a boat. Construction material like stones are also transoort on a boat with a built-in mechanical arm with claws. Simple routine tasks become fascinating because it is the first time to see a garbage boat or a contruction boat.

Freezing Cold

Temperature is below freezing. So it not so fun to walk with cold feet and frozen ears. It is not a good time to come to Italy in winter. Rome and Florence were raining when we were there. In Venice it is freezing temperature. The trip is good to experience Italian culture and food. But unfriendly weather makes the experience less fun. Venice is still a great place to visit with lots of local artists. There are lots of glass sculptures and the price of some are quite reasonable.

Award Winning Italian Coffee Maker

I was browsing through some design books to get inspiration for new ideas. In the book Top 100 Designs, an interesting looking coffeemaker was featured. Then while watching news on global warming where scientists in Antarctica are finding new evidence, one of the scientist was making coffee with the same coffeemaker. This coffeemaker is in every apartment we stayed. Only in Venice coffee powder is supplied. So I have a chance to try out the operation:-) It is quite simple.

I have taken a few pictures to show you....

Interesting Venice

We took the train from Florence to Venice early in the morning. On arrival, we have to take a water bus for two stops. It costs €6.50 per head. Pretty expensive for a short distance. But walking with lugguage will be extremely challenging as the will be many bridges to climb and cross.

There are no motor vehicles in Venice. No bicycles, no motorbikes, no scooters or cars, so the walkways are really for walking. It is incredible after Rome and Florence where walkways are full of people walking and motorised vehicles will keep coming from behind you. In Venice just avoid other people. The walkways are really narrow and can make it challenging. But no stress of "CAR!!!" from my boys or my wife. It is also interesting to ride the water bus.

The views are very interesting. The apartment we are staying is was built in16th century or 400 years ago. The apartment we stayed in Florence is 500 years old! Old buildings can have problems. We were told our apartment is more than 500 years old when we complained about the smell of one of the toilets. Now I know frangrance industry is thriving in Europe.

Getting lost in Venice is quite easy as there are many deadends as well as convoluting that we find that we are walking in circle all the time. Weather is cold with temperature dropping below zero. So dressing warmly makes it easier to stay out. I will recommend Venice the city to visit.

Giant Mosquito!

There was a huge flying insect in the living room after we checked in. B3 tried to catch it by hand but he let go when he touches it as he felt disgusted. My wife says it is a mosquito, I disagree thinking it is far too big to be a mosquito. I was reading in the bed room and the same type of insect was flying right in front of me. I decided to get rid of the irritant and managed to smack it against the bed. A huge smear of blood appeared. It was indeed a mosquito. This mosquito is 10X the size of those in Singapore!

As I was writing, it is hard to believe this myself. The bed cover on the divan has not been changed. So I decided to take a photo with my finger pointing on the blood smear for size comparison.

Sunny Saturday

Today is our last day in Florence. Luckily it is sunny unlike previous 3 days. Everyone is like us enjoying the day out. It is so crowded in the streets. Plenty of tour groups from mainland China. We passed the day shopping and enjoying the sights. Went into a Cathedral to pray with my boys. We have a good day.