X'mas trees @ TTSH

This is the time of the year when Christmas trees appear everywhere. Big ones, small ones. Green ones, blue ones, even pink Christmas trees.

Here are some seen at the Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH).

Would / Could / Will / Can

Would you, could you? Will you, can you?

Confused? Well, the BBC online has a webpage that explains the difference and the usage.

So,

I can, I can do this
now;
I could, I could do it
last time.

Could I, could I have kaya bread please?
Would you, would you attend the meeting on my behalf tomorrow please?

Will you, will you be able to drop by the Donutfactory
to get some doughnuts later on?
Would you, would you mind getting tiramisu from Bakerzin?

No Ribena, none in the pantry? I will get some for you.
Can I, can I cut the logcake for you?
May I, may I open the champagne?
I would; you could.
He will; she can.
What would Shakespeare have said, if he could?
:)

Who is eating the banana?

The neighbourhood squirrel came to partake of our bananas this afternoon.

Our bananas, hanging from a hook on the window grille, above the kitchen sink, must have looked inviting.

This afternoon, the sounds of scuffling came from the kitchen. From eye-witness accounts, a neighbourhood squirrel had come to visit. It had deftly peeled off part of the banana skin, and was nibbling at the banana.

When found, the squirrel swifly escaped. The bananas, whatever were left, were taken to a safer place.

Meanwhile, the squirrel kept watch from afar, hoping for another opportunity to enjoy the bananas!

The escapades of the neighbourhood squirrel!

In good company :D

Friends came together,

to celebrate an occasion.

Comfortable existence, easy conversation

... and enjoyable food.

my little train ... mine

Once a upon a time, in See See serfdom, little Enn Nee was assigned to pathfind and open up the land in the big wide plain. Under the light of the Sun, little Enn Nee came up with the idea of using little trains, carrying little seeds, into the vast land, to propagate, so that the plants could take root and grow.

Patiently and painstakingly, little Enn Nee set up the train system, and calculated the number of little trains needed to open up the land optimally.

Up in the hills of the serfdom, Char Lord (the husband of the nanny of Prince Char Ming) was watching intently. He too was building a train network, but of a leisurely pursuit - little toy trains puffing along for the fun and enjoyment of Char Lord. Now and then, a little Hi Kitty would sit on the little trains as passenger.

One day, one of Char Lord's toy trains broke down. He looks covetously at the train system set up by little Enn Nee to do real work. For his own enjoyment, he wanted one of little Enn Nee's toy trains, to complete his own set.

"I want it," Char Lord demanded. "It's mine!" complained little Enn Nee. And on it went ...

Little Enn Nee knelt under the wide open sky with the Sun above, and prayed. ~~~

~~ May a thousand flowers bloom! Pray, let it happen. ~~

come join us ))))))

Come join us, shout the cards that keep coming in - an inflow like the letters that Owl Hedwig and other owls kept sending to the house Harry Potter stayed in, to get him to go to Hogwarts.

They are cards inviting students to apply for scholarships.

And no ordinary cards are they. Some open up to show a popped up fighter plane, accompanied by the sound of fighter planes in flight (no less)! Very impressive.

Others come in the form of a board game. One side shows corporate battles, what one gets if one joins the corporate world. The other side shows the worthwhile career in the navy.

How nice to be "courted" and "wooed".

Did you see the rain?

Did you see the rain, as it fell this noon?

Pitter patter, louder and louder,

as the drizzle escalated to heavy rainfall,

and ended almost as gradually as it began.

Hopefully it washed away, or at least lessened,

any down spirits, any feelings of frustration.

But then,

since when has cold rain been a spirit uplifter?

the P e n d u l u m

The pendulum oscillates - it swings.

((((((((((o))))))))))

dark clouds, rain as year-end approaches

The sky cast a shadow over the early afternoon,

with thunderous roars,

pouring cold water over parts of town.

Casting gloom, dousing year-end cheer.

The sky's mood fluctuates,

turning clear blue in mid afternoon.

Within buildings, Christmas decorations are up,

the ubiquitous Christmas tree in every building,

shining brightly, giving cheer, bringing hope.

the anguish of the dragon

It's a sad weekend - five of the rowers of the Singapore Dragon Boat team went missing. This was after about 40 hours since their dragon boat reportedly knocked into a pontoon and capsized in the waters with currents. As with incidents, eye-witness accounts abound and many questions are raised, often in anguish. And many people offer views and 20/20 hindsight. It's so sad to see the photos of the five in the newspapers - looking so cheerful, vibrant and lively. ... the young lives. The media reports depress us.

:( :( :( :( :(

Quest for holiday fun - on the East Coast

The East Coast Parkway park was brimming over. The park was filled with holiday-makers cycling, roller-blading ... and eating. Traffic was snail-slow as the cars poured into the single-lane road outlining the park, trying to turn into the car parks, near the MacDonalds, the food places, the hawkers' centre. The road seems to meander on and on, filled with cars in front and behind. Slowly, gradually, as more and more the cars in front turned off into car parks to the attractions, eventually one came to the end of the side road and into the main road and expressway outside.

Tis the holiday season after all. Exams are over; time to let one's hair down and relax.

balloons, ice-cream, good cheer all round

Some organisations have started family days, when families are invited to the office on a specific day. The idea is for the children to see how and where their parents work.

On such an occasion, the kiddies (and the older ones) come to office with their parents - little toddlers coming through the portals of the office, looking in awe at the work station of their mummy or daddy, while colleagues offer chocolate nuggets and M&Ms.

Movies, balloons and ice-cream are must-haves on the programme of such family days. The kiddies, warmed up by then, run around like little free birds. While their parents run after them, trying to get them to sit still with offers of Ben&Jerry ice-cream. Or offers to paint their little hands with colour pictures of flowers, cars etc.

Then at the end of the day, the kiddies, tired out by then, somber down, dozing off speedily as they left.

Dozing off ... zzzzzzzz

Thanksgiving

It's Thanksgiving again. I celebrated my first Thanksgiving with my schoolmate. It was a holiday and the Americans were gathering round the TV watching games, eg football. My schoolmate Karen baked a huge turkey stuffed with chestnuts and all kinds of ingredients. And we had a sumptious dessert - think it was apple pie. I was marvelling at how Karen was preparing the turkey in such a confident and experienced way. Till today, I still remember the event.


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Thanksgiving History And Origin

One of the biggest and warmest holidays of the United States, Thanksgiving has its history and origin way back in centuries. There are various instances of thanksgiving observances in history, all of which bear resemblance to the modern celebrations of Thanksgiving; but the generally accepted and circulated view is that the modern day American Thanksgiving has its origin in 1621, when the Pilgrims, or the English settlers and the Native Americans celebrated a three-day long feast in Plymouth, Massachusetts. But quite contrary to this popular belief, the Pilgrims were never the first to have a Thanksgiving feast. Feasts celebrating a good harvest existed well before the Pilgrims or the settlers arrived. Nevertheless, it’s true that these Pilgrims held a Thanksgiving feast (more aptly, a feast to say ‘thanks’) in the first year of their survival in America. Following this Pilgrim’s 1621 Thanksgiving observance, began the Thanksgiving tradition of holding feasts after a good harvest. People usually celebrate Thanksgiving to mark the Autumn harvest and make merry in the plentiful yield. There is, however, a long tradition of celebrating the harvest throughout history. It might interest you to know that even the ancient Greeks and Romans had their respective harvest celebrations with music, parades and feasts quite like today’s Thanksgiving celebrations. People in ancient China also had their harvest festival with families feasting together on ‘moon cakes’ (round yellowish cakes). This was to celebrate the full moon and, as a matter of fact, the Chinese still celebrate this as their Moon Festival with much hype and hoopla ! Then again, there’s the harvest festival of the Jews. The Jewish harvest fest, Sukkot, is celebrated for eight days and is an occasion to catch up with the family on feasts and to be thankful for a good year. The British Isles too has a harvest festival called the Lammas, which marks the beginning of the harvest season. Now, whatever the history and origin, Thanksgiving today is primarily a day set aside in the most part of North America to show gratitude and be thankful to God. Feasts and family reunions are a regular trend for Thanksgiving in North America. In the United States, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November every year. But in Canada, the harvest season ends a little earlier in the year. Hence in Canada, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday in October. The Canadians have a three-day long Thanksgiving weekend and the holiday is not as significantly hyped here as in the United States. The Canadians also do not get enough time for a convenient homecoming. So they reserve the family reunions for the Christmas holiday. The Thanksgiving holiday has serious religious shades for the Roman Catholic Quebecers, who call it l'Action de Grâce. Thanksgiving has a long-standing history in Europe; it is associated with the harvest festivals held there. So then, as you see, celebrating harvest is quite old. And so is the thanksgiving act—to thank the Almighty for all the good things He has given us ! And all these harvest festivities, although having cultural differences, are common in spirit to the modern American Thanksgiving.

Today’s Thanksgiving has its history and origin embedded in all these ancient harvest festivals across the world. However, you should also take note of the fact that today’s Thanksgiving has its direct origin in the history of America—in the popular Pilgrim’s story of Thanksgiving.

The ‘Pilgrims’ are as much associated with Thanksgiving as Santa is to Christmas. In 1609, a group of Puritans, who called themselves ‘Separatists’ fled England, unable to conform to the English Church and the religious persecutions prevailing in England. They then moved to Holland and lived there for quite a few years until they could manage to finance a trip to the New World.
In 1620, they set sail for the New World in a ship called the Mayflower and on reaching their destination, they settled in a town called Plymouth, Massachusetts.
And yes, it is precisely because of this that the town Plymouth is so closely associated with the Thanksgiving holiday ! And, every year during this Thanksgiving season, numerous people visit this town and make their own pilgrimages to check out where the Thanksgiving holiday began.

Now the first winter of the Separatists, more popularly the Pilgrims was so severe that only a handful of them survived the harsh, adverse and merciless winter months in Plymouth. After a phase of intense hunger, malady and declining hopes, a Native American named Squanto, who knew English well, brought back better days for the Pilgrims. He taught them how to plant different crops on their soil and various other ways of planting and harvest.
The results of this were far-out—the Pilgrims had a first-rate, bountiful harvest in the following autumn. They had surplus food for the winter and learnt the ways of survival in the New World. The governor of the Pilgrims, William Bradford, then sought it best to celebrate their survival and glory with a sumptuous feast. So a grand feast followed and the Natives were also invited to be a part of their jubilation.
The story goes as this that the feast continued for three days and was marked by wholesome recreation and entertainment. This three-day feast held at Plymouth in 1621 by the Pilgrims (the colonists) and the Native Americans is often referred to as “The First Thanksgiving”. However, it is not known whether the Pilgrims called this a Thanksgiving celebration. They were, of course, thankful for the sudden change in their fortune, for their bountiful harvest, for the help they got from their Native American friends and many more; but in all probability, they did not observe this feast as a Thanksgiving feast. To these colonists, Thanksgiving meant the end of a period of fasting and prayer—a very solemn and sober occasion. Therefore, the grand and gala feast of 1621 was totally befitting to the Thanksgiving conventions of these Pilgrims. Also, this feast was not repeated next year. So obviously it can’t be called the start of the Thanksgiving tradition. But two years later, in the year 1623, the Pilgrims or the English settlers again went through a bad patch due to a long drought and assembled to pray for the rains. Strikingly enough, it poured heavily the very next day and the Pilgrims felt the need to observe a real thanksgiving day to pay tribute and show their thankfulness to the divine forces !

This can be called the first thanksgiving, in the true sense of the term, from which the modern-day Thanksgiving germinated. And it is from this that the custom of associating good fortune with Thanksgiving spread like wildfire throughout New England.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

sumptious food @ UEsquare

We gathered, on a rare occasion, for a meal. An adventure of sorts, as we ventured to a new watering hole ... bonta, an Italian restaurant at a corner of UE Square, near the Mohammad Sultan Road. Flatterng attention for the company we were in, an Italian chef with a Singlish accent (!) ... cosy atmosphere and delicious warm chocolate cake with chocolate syrup oozing from within! Heavenly indeed!

Different stories, different fates, along the street

Walking along the street,
we chanced upon
a couple of friends in an evening out,
one holding a lollipop, another some pineapple tarts,
all to help cheer up someone in low spirits,
but she remained non-communicative and silent.
Some silly inconsequential remark one made
to provoke her out of sullen silence.
Succeed the friend did, though she suffered a bimbo label.

Well, what matters is cheering up a friend;
how important "face" compared to well-being of a friend?



Walking along the street,
we chanced upon a little matchstick girl,
trotting after her mistress Ms de Tex.
Trot, trot, trot, in the cold air,
but with anticipation as the house with welcoming lights drew near.
Ms de Tex quickened her steps, opened the door and stepped in,
slamming the door behind her, with nary a glance back.
The little matchstick girl stopped in her tracks,
shoulders drooped, her face crestfallen.
Left out in the cold,
though she slogged whole day and night
selling matchsticks and lighters,
with all cash handed over to Ms de Tex.
The little matchstick girl
- she tried to huddle near the bushes, hoping for some warmth,
some palm-ful, she hoped,
but to no avail.

What street was this,
with no shelter for the unwanted, the untreasured.
The little matchstick girl
- gladly she would have endured the scoldings of a friend;
at least, the warmth of the friendly chiding.
Far better than the heartless attitude of a supposed carer,
like the merciless cold of the streets.

the Darwinian nature

The incessant moaning of the cat next door

broke the dawn tranquility of the Sunday.

Moaning and a-mewing it went,

like a record left unattended.

Perhaps it was moaning the passing

of the Koi (Banana Koi, named for its colour).

For the big handsome Koi

was found floating in the pond,

with no life in it.

Just yesterday, it was swimming happily,

with no sign of sickness or ill health.

Such is Nature

- as Darwin said,

the fittest survive.

green tea ... in ice cream

Years ago, when I bought packets of sugar cane drink and chrysanthemum drink from the Chinatown in Washington DC, my friends in the newsroom asked me why I chose to buy vegetable drinks. To them, sugar cane and chrysanthemum are plants and vegetables, not something that is turned to juices and drinks.

Well, it's been many years. Maybe the taste for beverages may have changed over there.

Here, we now have such a myriad choice of ice-cream that it's mind-boggling. There's yam ice-cream, sweetcorn ice-cream, and also green tea ice-cream.

I like green tea ice-cream. Had it in places like Ichiban. Recently we came across Yama Yuki (apparently means "snow mountain"), a stall selling low-fat green tea ice-cream. Right outside Carrefour in Suntec city.

It was yummy! :P

Cuisine bon appetit; Food, comfort food

Food, cuisine, all kinds, from all over the world. All here in the malls, the hotels, the boutique shophouses.

Still, after all the beautifully arranged cuisine, one does hanker for the food and dishes one has been eating. Comfort food.

We went to Manhill Restaurant for dinner, a small Chinese restaurant in Pasir Panjang, in a somewhat rundown shophouse, not chic but comfortable, with clean crockery and cutlery and good food.

It's famous for its chicken dishes. The braised beef dish is delicious too. And the pork ribs are also tasty. :D

A Little Miss Muffet scene ...

Little Miss Muffet
Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet,
Eating her curds and whey.
There came a big spider,
Who sat down beside her.
And frightened Miss Muffet away!

There was no little Miss Muffet this Saturday morning.

But there was a big spider (at least one) minding its own business in its webby home above the pond.

Meanwhile in the pond, the koi continue to swim around peacefully, minding their own business.

~~~

No, this koi is not caught in the spider's web!

~~~~~~



Meanwhile, hanging peacefully on the wall, the creepers and plants bask in the sunlight, making food with the chlorophyll.

And the orchid buds have opened, to view the world around them.

Nut ... Donut

A doughnut craze has descended on the area.

The shop Donutfactory has opened on the second level. It has a big open counter, a queue area (that is always full of people at lunch time), and even sofas for friends waiting for friends in the queue, and for their doughnuts (of course!).

A friend treated us to doughnuts today. I had chocolate cinnamon. Very delicious! :P Yum!

>>More about doughnuts in Photosophize's blog - 3 Nov 07 posting>>

Hey, am writing (and eating) so much about food that I must be turning into a chubbymummy!

:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

Caro-tene ...for health

A recent study found that caro-tene (found in carrots) is good for countering dementia. As with most studies, there is a counter-finding! *Sigh*

Well, regardless ... we had carrot soup today, creamily sumptious. At the Organic Cafe in Velocity/Novena Square. Thinking of the carotene within the soup, and of the positive impact, made me feel good. :)

Positive psychology indeed!

yam, ginko and pumpkin

We had "or-ni" today :P

Yam, with pumpkin, and one ginko nut, all awashed in the tiny saucer bowl with off-white creamy sauce ...

Yum! :P *satisfaction*

Firs ... evergreen, all year round

A few firs, like Christmas trees, stand strong and sturdy, on the grounds. Old trees, towering above, grand in their greenery and height, like giraffes standing head and shoulders above others. All in good accompaniement with the olde buildings, old but neat with paint.

Still idyllic roads ... amidst building bustle

Among the international interest, the focal attention,
amidst the construction of the Resorts World,
the idyllic roads of Sentosa remain,
only when cars don't blaze through them,
shattering the tranquility and peaceful beauty.


*The idyllic roads of S E N T O S A*

The Noose

We watched The Noose tonight. The Noose, the news ... get it?

Starring Gurmit Singh (as Roy Terse - TODAY says "reuters, get it?") and Michelle Chong, both very versatile and talented artistes.

It was really funny. The actions sometimes mirror the perceptions, impressions that people, and even different groups of journalists, presenters and artistes, have of each other. The scripting is humorous - even the email addresses of the reporters end with con.job !

All of us enjoyed it, at least this episode, the first we're watching. It's also the first time we're tuning in to a Channel 5 drama serial / sitcom after a long time. Most nights, we're tuned to Star World or AXN for Monk, Boston Legal, Scrubs / House, 24, CSI etc, Travel.

// The Noose / the news / The Noose / the news / The Noose / the comedy //

nasi lemak in demand

It was not even noon yet on a Saturday, but a queue has already formed in front of the stall.

It was the No. 1 Adam nasi lemak stall at the Adam Road Food Centre. Its nasi lemak is sedap (delicious) - the chicken wings (for the chicken set) are crispy and good, the ikan bilis and nuts done right (though nowadays rather small in size), the egg with a succulent yolk in the middle, and with sweet chilli sauce.

The stall is manned by a sweet gentle lady, with a cheerful grey-haired gentleman in the background, patiently frying eggs, deep frying the chicken wings etc.

Its next-door stall, also selling nasi lemak, is as popular, with a queue outside as well. It was the one reported by ST some months back on hawkers who made good.

But I still prefer the nasi lemak from the No. 1 stall. Though its portions seemed to have diminished somewhat nowadays.

signs of Christmas

It's beginning to look like Christmas.

Along the streets of the Orchard Road area, we see decorations on the trees and across the roads. All ready for the Christmas light-up.

And outside the Tanglin Mall today, we saw a "house" built, getting ready to wow the public and draw crowds.

And later when it was done ...

(picture from TODAY, Fri 23 Nov 07)