The Singapore F1

There were lots of thrills and spills at the Singapore F1 Grand Prix last night. With a few accidents and stalled engines, it proved to be eventful. I was equally thrilled to attend this event because its my first time ever to see some really fast car racing 'live'.

WF had the extremely good fortune to get 4 sponsored tickets to the F1 competition. And my, these passes got us really good pole positions: 2 skysuite passess opposite the pits & starting/finishing line. 2 grandstand passess in the same area.

Our suite is located right opposite the McLaren's pits. So we get a good view of Lewis Hamilton's car (one of the hot favourites to win the race) when he pit stops.

But my dad and brother got better location than ours. Though seated in the grandstand, they were directly opposite Fernando Alonso's pit! And towards their left, its the Ferrari team's. So they get to see the winner in pit stop as well as witness the blotched pit stop of Felipe Massa's car where it cost him the lead and eventually a place in the podium.

Generally, in my opinion, this is a good event that showcases a lot about Singapore and its efficiency. And the way this F1 is run, the govt and relevant authorities really put in a lot of effort to make it work.

The only exception is transport after the race. There were a lot of confusion when the spectators are leaving. And it took us almost one hour to walk all the way to Raffles Hospital for a cab. Hopefully next year, it'll improved. Though I am not sure if I still have such luck to go again, for free.

Another Saturday Outing - Qian Hu Fish Farm

This place is really far. But since we're running out of ideas on where to go on Saturdays, we decided to drive all the way to Sungei Tengah to visit the fish farm.

There are really lots of fishes there (of course, its a fish farm!) and with a few dollars you get to feed the koi fishes as well as the tortoises. Add another few dollars you get to enjoy the fish spa.

Apparently this fish spa is quite "in" beginning of this year. I remember there were some features on a few TV programmes. First you dip your feet into the pool filled with little fishes. These little fishes will crowd around your two feet and start feeding on the dead/thickened skins of your feet. Mind you, it is really really ticklish and the sensation of fishes nibbling on your feet is "eeeeewwweeee" (see pictures of our expressions). Nevertheless, for me and WF, its a new experience albeit a not so enjoyable one.

Maybe tomorrow we'll go the Hays Diary Farm.

My Birthday

Sunday was my birthday but then because Sunday is usually church and family dinner, so its rather troublesome to celebrate. WF decided to pushed forward to Friday where he took leave and we spent the afternoon out without the kids.

We started off the lazy afternoon with spa therapy at Dempsey Hill. There's a spa that occupies one of the barracks building called House. Its a really nice place with many massage rooms. All the rooms come with a view of the greenery surrounding Dempsey. Though the outside of the building looks old, the interior is decorated with simple yet classy furnishing. There are even art pieces installed in the spa. They offer many services from the head to the toe. And I treated myself to a full body massage plus a foot sculptor.

US market had a bad week and Ning had high fever since Tuesday. So we were in need of a good rest and massage. I'm not sure whether the massage was good or we're really tired but both of us fell asleep during the treatment.

The foot sculptor was a new experience for me. Where the male therapist uses a special knife to scrape away my thickened skin at the base of my foot. The knife itself is unlike anything I've seen. Its long like a chopstick and wide like a filer. And apparently, this has to be done by males because females don't possess the required skills. Say I'm sua-ku or what. But this is rather popular with people in Beijing and WF had even done this during one of his trips. At the end of the treatment, I am left with smooth-feeling feet.

Dinner has to be something I like and I have this thing about Big Mac and beef steak (especially fillet mignon). So its beef steak at The Prime Society in Dempsey as well. Can't say much about the standards of the food (those of you who know WF's taste bud) but the service is good.

Added bonus is, on Sunday after church, I get to eat my other favourite food: Lor-mee (no prizes for guessing what are my top three favourite food).

Mid-Autumn Festival

Last Thursday, we brought the kids to The Chinese Garden for the Lantern Festival 2008. This year's theme is Hello Kitty and other Sanrio characters. So the entire garden is filled with the various large-size lantern of Sanrio characters. It was pretty crowded considering it was a weekday. Lots of children and of course young adults who adores Hello Kitty and gang.

Both the kids were just looking at the light up characters that's all. They have not reached an age where they're overly crazy over a particular cartoon character yet. Probably it'll be more fun when they're older and more willing to carry their lanterns in their walkabout in the garden.

Yesterday was the actual Mid-Autumn Festival and the crazy us drove all the way back to Punggol to spend the evening in the old playground. Probably you have the same question as my maid,"Punggol?" Our reasoning was 80% of the people staying in Pebble Bay are either foreigners or non-chinese, so we don't expect there'll be a big gathering at the playground downstairs. We concluded we might as well go back to Punggol where we are ensured of a guaranteed turnout at the playground, let the kids play with other kids while we adults can catch up with old neighbours.

Judging by the state of sweatiness and tiredness while we were travelling back home, I'm quite sure the kids had a good time.

 

Moony About Mooncake

Sunday is Mid-Autumn festival. And like Chinese New Year, give mooncakes as gifts seems to be the social practice here.

Every year, we have the good fortune of receiving many such gifts. And I get to taste a huge varieties of mooncakes from the different bakeries and hotels. This year is no exception. And I gladly indulge in the many mooncakes available at home. Especially I'm still feeling the soreness and pain from my braces, eating soft food like mooncakes is something I can do.

New tastes of mooncakes are introduced every year and these varieties are so varied that sometimes I wonder where is the sense of traditional have gone to. So this year I get a wide varieties ranging from durian to cempedak, to macadamia nuts to pandan flavoured.

 

Here's my review of the varieties of mooncakes I had eaten:

Goodwood's Cempedak: How on earth did the chefs think of marrying a jackfruit with snowskin? It tasted too yucky and untraditional. Friends who came to our place had the same negative comments.

Goodwood's D24 durian: The entire filling is filled with durian paste. In WF's words, "Might as well go and buy a D24 durian and eat. Its cheaper. This piece of mooncake is $20, much expensive than the REAL durian."

Prestat's "complicated" varieties of mooncakes: Ang moh company making chinese confectionery? What do you think?

Hua Ting's baked skin assortment: Lotus paste is smooth and not too sweet. Likewise for its pandan flavoured lotus paste. But the pastry is flaky. When I cut the mooncake into smaller pieces, the skin just crumbles.

Raffles' baked skin assortment: Lotus paste isn't too sweet. Smooth as well. Baked skin does not crumbles like Hua Ting's. Their mooncakes are always consistent. I never get disappointed eating theirs every year. I miss their champagne truffles and ganache mooncake though.

Regent's green tea, lotus and black sesame paste in snowskin: Many of us don't normally linked mooncakes to this hotel. But they have the better mooncakes this year. Fillings aren't sweet and oily. The skin has the right texture (Goodwood's ones are way too soft). Traditional yet new like black sesame. I rate them the best among all the mooncakes I've got this year.

Conrad's lychee with ginseng lotus paste & cranberry with lotus paste, snowskin: Not too bad. The lotus paste has a nice lychee taste to it.

That's all folks. Remember to drink lots of tea to wash down the oils that are used in making those smooth and shiny lotus paste!

Jacob Ballas Children's Garden

Tomorrow is Saturday again and we're running out of ideas on where to bring the kids to. I always joke that we should send the kids for enrichment classes on Saturday mornings like other kids because we're always out of ideas as to where to go or how to spend the morning.

While waiting for WF to decide where to go tomorrow so I can prepare what to bring for the outing, I thought I'll just post one of the outings we went.

The Jacob Ballas Children's Garden is located in Botanical Gardens, at the fringe. They have some educational areas in the Garden teaching kids about plants and photosynthesis etc. They also have a playground for the kids to tire themselves out. Plus sandpit and a water fountain where the kids can play. Good thing was, I brought Ning's swimwear with me on that trip. Thus she gets to play in the fountain without worrying about wetting her clothes.

Too bad for Zhi, he wasn't very steady at walking independently at that time and neither parents want to get wet, so he can only see his sister water playing. Now I'm sure he can play all these alone if we were to go there again.

About this week

Realised I didn't put in an entry for this week until today. Its been a hectic one for me and finally, today, I get to recuperate.

We had a minor car incident last Saturday at the Mandai Zoo carpark. So I had been sending the car and picking the car from the repair workshop. Nope, it wasn't me, but WF was the driver. And yes, the kids were in the car but none of us got hurt. It was really a minor accident. But because of the new rulings, whether it is a minor accident or not, we still have to report the accident to the insurance company. And thus the added hassle of going to the workshop three times in four days.

The poly's new semester starts this week, so I'm back to my regular teaching every Wednesday. Some of you may also know that I've taken on an additional training assignment at the airport. And this takes up my Tuesdays and Thursdays every week.

Monday was Teachers' Day holiday and Ning's school was closed. I brought the kids out to Vivocity, since its near our place (we're tired of going to Parkway Parade already). Here are two pictures of them enjoying themselves there.


And because of being caught in the rain a few times and stretching my voice too much while training these three days, I was down with flu and bad throat.

Today I get to rest, but not really rest. I'm on my first day of braces. So with the bad throat, I get swollen gums and ulcers as well. The irritating thing is because I'm not feeling well, I keep getting hungry. But eating is such a torture. I can't bite hard, I can't chew well, I can't swallow my food smoothly too.

Tonight we're bringing Ning to Alliance Francaise to watch the play, "The Rainbow Fish" and I told WF I'm going to Goodwood Park's coffee lounge for Taiwan porridge dinner first before walking to Alliance. Because porridge seems like the "friendly" thing for me to eat at the moment.