Our 1st time on the Flyer :)

Dear All

We usually avoid the crowds, so after the Flyer was opened in 2009, this was the first time Bert & I went up on it!

Boarding platform...only 3 cabins are for dinning (below):

In the Flyer up in the air. The ride was smooth and steady (below):

Singapore River, condos and highways seen from the cabin (below):

Found this cool machine that stamps on a copper coin an image of the Flyer (below):

Remember our post on the LC 10-10 question? We decided to date each other again :) It was fun to rekindle our spousal relationship without the distraction of our kids, no matter how much we love them.

Surprisingly, the ride on the Flyer was very nice. We went on a weekday early afternoon (lunch time actually) so there were not many people or tourists around and got a whole cabin to ourselves! We roamed freely from 1 corner to the other to see the various surrounding landmarks. The highest point was at 165m.

We bought a super cool magic mug that reveals the flyer when it's filled with hot beverage but is black when it's cold. Fantastic find! Don't really know what material it's made of or how it works, but we got 1 for each of us...couples cups.

This is the magic black cup where the image appears on it when it's hot (below):

We intend to create time to date each other again. We are so busy these days that we've no real time to communicate on a deeper level of the heart and soul. This special couples time is what we need right now so we'll work on this for this year.

As all of us LC lovers learnt from our ME Weekend, love is a decision. This love has to be constantly nurtured and protected with tender loving care :) That's the ME Way!!

Love Theresa

Who says Valentine Day's only for Lovers?

Dear All

Having watched the movie "Courageous", where in 1 scene, a father brings his daughter for a 1 to 1 date at an expensive restaurant, asks her her permission to allow her parents to give their blessing on the guy she will marry in future, as they care alot for her well-being. She agrees. With that, the father seals that special night with that special talk between father and daughter with a diamond heart-shaped ring and puts it on her wedding finger. She would wear the ring till the day it is replaced by the one given to her by her husband.

My Valentine gifts for the valentines in my life :

I thought it was an unique gesture and a very meaningful one.

So, I thought, why should the giving of valentines be only between lovers and spouses? I could give my girls valentines too to show them how much I love them. I believe they truly were pleasantly surprised and touched by my gesture. The pleasant was to see the delight on their faces and that on my spouse :)

Love Theresa

A Poem by Paula Fox for Valentine's Day

Dear All

I thought the below poem is so appropriate for Saint Valentine's Day. It is a day to remember those we love, be it spouses, parents, siblings or our children.

Love Theresa

An excerpt from Heart of a Mother by Paula J. Fox

A mother is born in that very moment a child becomes her own. And her heart begins to overflow with a love she has never known. Her focus changes instantly as her heart beats for another. It will never be the same again. It's the powerful heart of a mother! It's a heart of incredible courage with strength and endurance too. She fiercely protects and defends her young in ways only she can do. She sacrifices "self" to give her children what they need, developing their character to make sure that they succeed. Just like a lovely gardener she plants her seeds of love. Her heart gives lots of sunshine like blessings from above. She provides a firm foundation... a peaceful, loving home So her children's roots run deep and strong no matter where they roam. With a heart that nurtures them along to grow in the right direction She allows them freedom to blossom and thrive under her wise protection. They're prepared to face the storms of life, as they learn to stand alone. She gives them a sense of value and strength with a confidence of their own. There's a special beauty in a Mother's love She's a picture of wisdom and grace We honor her with gratitude... No one can take her place!

The Moon Represents My Heart...:)

Dear All

We just completed our 10-10 on the LC sharing question:

“With the start of a new year, what is the one thing I would like to do that will benefit our spousal relationship? HDMAMMF?”

As you all know, we mostly go everywhere with our kids. Bert and I agreed we should have quality couple time - just the 2 of us, just like the courtship days. We need to revitalise our spousal relationship instead of our time being almost exclusively for others, other activities...what about us and our activities?

There is a poem called "The Dash". It represents the hypen between the years a person has lived and written "xx year - yy year" on the tombstone. It's a very poignant wakeup call to not just exist but live your life.

Some friends come into our lives, others step out of it, but who is always there is family. If we don't make an impact on others' live, especially our love ones, we have wasted our dash.

So we intend to create memories for ourselves in little ways. And HDMAMMF? I feel excited, and Bert feels happy.

And what has it got to do with the Moon? Well, on the 15th day of the Lunar New Year, the moon is at its fullest and it seems its BIGGEST, and it's the Chinese Valentine's Day :)

We were very impressed by it's size....like it was so near to the earth.

Happy Saint Valentine's Day my LC Lovers.

Love Theresa

A Moving Masterpiece

Dear All

Feli wanted to visit the exhibition from China, "A Moving Masterpiece" after her Chinese teacher in school told them how nice it was...the characters in the painting "come alive". Her school's HMT class went last Fri, so she wanted to go too. As the exhibition ended today (6 Feb), we tried to get the tix on Sat night at 8pm, but the queue was very long. So as not to disappoint her, I brought her after Sun Mass to catch the early part of the day. Fortunately we were early. The crowd came around 2 - 3pm. We got the tixs, ate lunch, and queued to enter.

The tix for adult was $21 and kids $16, but with Passion card, there was a 15% discount. So adults was $18 and kids $13.50.

When we entered the Hall, we were given audio guides in 8 languages, and we selected English.

The tix for adult (below):

Map of Exhibition (below):

There were 5 elements like Fire, Water, Earth, Gold (Metal) and Wood. This was just the intro to Chinese culture like how the dumpling festival came about, and how society evolved such that the elite were the scholars that studied very hard to pass the imperial exams.

The tools of students taking the imperial exams (below):

This is the Golden Scroll version of Qing Ming Shang He Tu (below):

A wall "mural" showing a roving hawker during Song Dynasty (below):

This section is when blocking printing was invented (below):

The almost valueless copper coin were tied in strings..worth very little then (below):

The games people played during the Song Dynasty (below):

The merchants were rich and very free, so they smoke pipes to pass time (below):

The labourers like the porters were lowly paid in copper coins. Tried being a porter (below):

The highlight : The moving painted scroll called "Qing Ming Shang He Tu" (below):

Example of the changing scene - night (below):

...and day of the same scene as above:

Feli video-taping the changing and moving scenes (below):

Notice the camels have moved (below):

...they have moved more to the right now (below):

The Song Dynasty was at the peak with 1.5million population, equivalent to densely populated cities in the world like NYC. Why this painting was famous was because it was a massive painting made on a scroll about 500cm long. There were at least 1000 characters depicted in the painting, showing what life was like then. There were fortune tellers, story tellers, porters for loading and unloading boats, porters to carry things for the rich, ladies in sedan chairs, the poorer ones in mule-drawn carriages, foreign traders bringing exotic goods on camels from the Silk Road etc.

Another reason why the painting was so famous was because each section of the scene can stand-alone, unlike the usual painting when the whole piece shows just 1 scene. Especially interesting is the Golden Bridge where both the top and underside of the bridge can be seen at the same time. It looks a bit weird but the details of the bustling activities are all captured like a photograph, in the painting. Really fantastic masterpiece.

The 2 posters we bought at $4.5 for 2 (special offer):

The children's version of the story behind this exhibition. Really worth the $8 spent on it (below):

The goodies bag with 10 items going for $20, original price $60. I counted the items were worth only $55. Mostly postcards, but the coaster made of porcelene is good (below):

These are all the souvenir items we bought (below):

All in, we found the exhibition worth going if there was a discount like what we got. Otherwise, I find it quite pricey. The souvenirs were too expensive too.

Love Theresa

CNY Long Weekend

Dear All

The night before the Reunion, we visited our new fav haunt, Changi City Point next to Singapore Expo. It's still not that crowded so it was fun..i.e easy to browse and move around.

CNY deco at the atrium (below):

The cute doll at Aijisen, where we had our dinner on Sat, nite b4 reunion:

One of several dragons at Sing Expo (bel0w):

On the 1st day of CNY, we went to my parents' home to pai-nian.

Tiffy and her cousins "Pai-Nian" to their grandparents (below):

Feli's turn to wish her grandparents good wishes for the New Year (below):

The grown-ups were next to pai-nian to our parents. We start from the oldest to the youngest, similarly for the children. That's why Feli was alone in the above photo...she's the youngest of the cousins :)

That's Bert & me :)

Family photo of the cousins (2 are overseas) - below:

We normally have a photo of the grandparents with their grandchildren. This year, the size is smaller as 2 of the grandchildren are studying overseas during the CNY period.

Family photo of grandparents with their grandchildren (below):

Family photo :)

So what is the below photo doing here? Well, enroute to visit our 5th aunt, we noticed that the Singapore Flyer had a HUGE new CNY deco "Spring" at it's wheel. Don't know how they've managed to get it up there? The photo was taken by Feli :)

Love Theresa

CNY of the Water Dragon Reunion Dinner - 22 Jan 2012

Dear All

For the past few years, my mum has stopped cooking for the reunion dinner. That's because she is getting on with age.

You know my cooking isn't any where near peranankan standard though we are both Bert and I are from the Straits born background. Cooking isn't exactly my forte, and the girls hardly eat hot spicy food...just a teensy bit of chilli.

This year, I'm so glad my 2 dishes did not receive any critical remark, unlike the previous year. My family hardly gives praises, so no negative remark means it's good! Now that I know what kind of personality I am, I realise I need praises, so I probe for one from my mum, who eventually, almost reluctantly said with pride that "you passed lah".

As the custom requires us to cook sufficient amount for the reunion dinner with leftover for the next day's family gathering of the other in-laws, I was asked to cook a lot. So I really cooked A LOT, that there was enough food for my household, and for my mum's household for 3 meals -- reunion, next day's lunch plus dinner! Mum said I cooked too much. Aiyo, how to estimate when it's done only once a year? Better to err on the more than the less, otherwise, kana scolding even worse, right? My sis-in-law was smart, she only cooked 1 dish (the leek which was all finished at the reunion) and ta-pao the other 2 (yu-sheng and braised duck). My hubby said don't bother what my mum say, as only my 2 dishes were enough to bring over to the next day plus a little balance of the duck. Next time, I think I'll cook just 1 dish and order the 2nd.

So what did I cook? There's this lovely honey pork-rib recipe a friend gave me. It's easy to cook. Just marinate and then cook it in the slow cooker. Only trouble was, all my cookware are meant for a small family, so I had to cook it in 2 batches, and also marinade them in 2 batches, an cooked 1 batch whilst we went to church, and then the next after we got home.

This is one batch of the honey prime pork ribs. 2nd batch in the slow cooker (below):

The second dish was simple too. Soy sauce chicken with tau-kwa pok. I marinaded this when I got home from church (it being Sunday) and managed to squeeze everything into my usual daily sauce-pan. Had to go buy the huge caterer kind of disposal containers to hold everything, so squeezed into the crowded supermarket to buy them.

The soy sauce chicken with tau-kwa pok and wine (below):

Can't afford to try anything too complicated as there wasn't time, plus I have problem with the size of my hardware! :) I was like panicking when I realised my prime pork ribs were too HUGE!

So kia-su, I bought the biggest of 2 types of containers! (below):

My proud hubby, displaying my hard-labour of love (below):

The reunion with family tossing yu-sheng (below):

As an added bonus, I was in the mood, so I baked a fruit-cake, just for fun and to try it out. Made mum try it, and she said it was good. My I personally think it's far from it, as I have tasted far better ones. So if my mood sneaks on me again, I may try another fruit-cake recipe and let my family try it out :)

My fruit-cake, made a few days before the Reunion (below):

Doing the taste-test (below):

Hmmm...yummy fruit-cake baked for 1.5h (below):

Love Theresa