On this very special day 91 years ago, a legend was born.
Happy birthday Mr Lee!
Thanks to you and your comrades, we have the prosperous country we have today!
We must remember not to be complacent and rest on our laurels so that we can continue your legacy.
The mothership has compiled these quotes of Mr Lee. Candid, honest, direct and thought provoking. A tribute to our founding father. Thanks for everything!
Quotes from Mr Lee Kuan Yew! Enjoy!
Omg!!! I’ve a bald patch!! Right at the top of my head!! Did you see that?
Quick! Give me the number to the Yunnan hair thing!! I must be their first baby client! Maybe they will pay me to be their poster baby for endorsement??
Tomorrow how to go to school and face my girlfriends??? How how how???
I read in the magazines that girls like boys with skills. I’ve figured that it will be super cool to know how to fly!!
My flight training started this morning! I hope that I can pick it up before school this morning. ☺️
[youtube=http://youtu.be/eGgUFJTKVcE]
I decided that flying can’t be picked up so quickly. Some girls like the arty farty kind. I look especially suave in my green apron.
Hey babe! This is how you use the brush!!
You dab it in here. Do you need any help?? I can hold your hand over the brush. ☺️
Eating etiquette is also very important. So that I can impress my date at the French fine dining restaurant. Au Jardin, s’il vous plaît?
[youtube=http://youtu.be/yg2cpvEheE8]
I must improve on my selfie skill. ?
Especially when I need to put these darn small rice crisps into my mouth at the same time. But, I shall endeavor!!
Eee!! So ugly! Rice crisps all over my mouth!! Delete delete!! Babes will not date me after this!! ?
[youtube=http://youtu.be/PKSEA38WGr4]
My first date : so romantic. Both of us under the stars, with a choir singing behind us.
If you need any advice on picking up girls, I can give you a tip or two.
Oh man! I’m Mr Popular. All the babes love me. I’m catching her a bubble. What? Flowers? Nah! That’s so passé! Bubbles are the in the thing now. See how happy she looks??
Luckily I didn’t come to class wearing only my bib. Too sexy for these babes to handle.
Ming ming you are the MAN!! ?
Peek a boo!!!
Jie Jie peek a boo me too
Peeka peeka boo!
It’s amazing how different the world looks, through a hole in the chair.
I heard there are peepholes in Amsterdam too. I wonder if they are the same….??
I’ve heard this term Snag. I think I’m a snab. Sensitive new age baby. Other babies cry and tear pages. But me? I love to read!
Not only that, I read motherhood shopping magazines. So that I can tell Mama the clothes I want to buy. There’s a new girl in class I want to impress. ?
I eat and read at the same time. Like the adults at the cafes? Good life right?? You know, just sit there, eat, read magazines and watch people scurrying around to go to work. Shiok arh!
No, I’m not wearing a tu dou. Oh pulease! Tu dous are for girls!!! It’s a bib for goodness’ sake! And such a manly bib! Look, it’s blue ok!!! Definitely a boy bib!!
Wei!!! Why did you flip up my bib!!! I know I’m sexy! But please control yourself!
Why am I naked? I’m not!! I’m wearing a bib! Besides I like to air myself once in a while.
Should I wear this to school? Sexy huh??
Hehe! It all started when Boonk asked, “Do you know what’s Andy Lau drink?” Huh? How would I know what Andy Lau likes to drink???
Hehe. He’s referring to a term that’s commonly used in our local kopitiam. Our local kopitiam drinks uncles have given nicknames to all the commonly ordered drinks.
If you want to immerse in our local kopitiam culture try ordering these drinks!!
I’ve absolutely no idea how these names are derived. If you do, do leave a comment and enlighten all of us!
I’m venturing some guesses here:
Coke light = Lai kor – I think it’s due to the similar sounding words?
Milo = tuck kiu – the picture of someone kicking a ball on the packet
Chinese tea = diao yu – the tea bag resembles a fishing rod
Kickapoo = Kak Poh (frog) Similar sounding
Soya Bean mixed with Chin Chow = Michael Jackson – From his song Black and White (Or is it Black or white??)
Chrysanthemum tea = Ah Huay (Flower) – Chrysanthemum flowers
Sprite = Si Bai (Failure) – Similar Sounding
?? = Xiao Bai Tu (Little White Rabbit) -I seriously don’t know what drink this is!! If you do, let me know!! *a suggestion from Sharon (Thanks!) that it’s Pokka carrot juice. Makes sense!!
Mineral Water = Andy Lau – Named after his song “Wang Qing Shui” (Water to forget love?!)
Pepsi = Bek Ki Bek Lo (Climb up and down in hokkien) – Similar sounding to Pepsi’s Chinese name Ke Kou Ke Le (可口可乐) *Oops! Wrong Chinese name as pointed out by Boonk the pro. It should be 百事可乐 (bai shi ke le)
Water = Hang Qing Pai (Bad Economy) – No money so drink water lar!!
?? – Lang Lai Le (Here comes the wolf!) – I must confess that I don’t know this as well!! Can someone enlighten me?! *According to Ernest (who is part time kopitiam uncle) it is star fruit juice!! Because when the wolf comes, the sheep runs away 羊逃 it sounds similar to star fruit in mandarin.
Horlicks = Dai Ka Ho (Hi Everyone!) – Obviously the similar sounding word of Ho and Hor
I think it’s some birds’ nest drink = Jiao Zhui (Bird water) – Picture of the bird on the can
That’s all, folks!! Something bo liao for today!
Ever since I bought my Kenwood bread machine some long long time ago, I’ve been itching to make jam because it has a jam function!
And… I finally did it today!!! Because during my rare trip to the supermarket, strawberries were on sale. So I bought 2 boxes. And the blueberries were selling at a good price too, so 3 boxes of that. ?
Anyway, my kenwood jam recipe called for various stuff like sugar pectin etc, which I didn’t have. So I had to improvise and hope for the best.
After googling, I found out that a lot of fruits have natural pectin so it’s not necessary. Unfortunately, strawberries and blueberries don’t have pectin. Sigh! Luckily lemon does! So I decided to add lemon peel into the recipe.
So here’s my improvised recipe.
150g strawberries
150g blueberries
150g sugar
1tsp lemon juice
15g butter
Some lemon bits
I didn’t have a lemon zest so I used a peeler and sliced the peel into small slices. I was wondering why the recipe called for butter. After googling, it’s to reduce foam. Ah ok…
And then?? Everything goes into the bread machine.
Press a button and wait…
Meanwhile sterilize the jar. You can sterilize it by boiling it or you can put it into the oven for 20 mins at 200°C.
And the final product?? Ta da!!
Absolutely yummy! Full of natural goodness! Although it’s not as sweet as the commercial ones but I still find it a little too sweet for my liking. I’ll reduce the sugar amount in my next attempt.
But it was a chore to wash the bread machine. The melted sugar and jam paste flew everywhere and stuck to the machine. Took me a long time to get everything off… So, clean up while the machine is still warm.
Meanwhile, it’s jam time tomorrow!
A side titbit :
Pectin is a naturally occurring substance that makes jellies gel and gives jams their yummy spreadable consistency. Fruits that are low in pectin usually need to be combined with high-pectin fruits in order to get a good gel.
High Pectin Fruits
apples
citrus rinds
crab apples
cranberries
currants
gooseberries
plums
grapes
quinces
Low Pectin Fruits
apricots
blueberries
cherries
elderberries
peaches
pears
pineapple
raspberries
strawberries
I came across this link on one of my friend’s Facebook posts today. I thought it’s kind of cool!
It shows most, if not all, the original Chinese symbols of our Chinese surnames. It even has an explanation on the origins. I have always been fascinated by this although my Chinese isn’t anywhere near the A1 level (to the despair of my Mom who used to be a Chinese teacher…).
This is my surname 赖. Apparently my clan was made up of super farmers! I think the genes has been greatly diluted over the millenniums. My fingers are far from being green. I’ll just stick to admiring flowers and eating vegetables.
I was in two minds, whether or not to blog about this. But, with the exuberant encouragement from JH, I have decided to embark on this perilous project and pray that I don’t get unfriended. Haha.
I just had dinner with 2 long time friends. Well it was supposed to be 5 of us. But one flew our aeroplane ✈️ (double booked and decided to bail out on us) and we flew an aeroplane on another one because of a science test (or was it maths?? Never mind…).
Ok. Back to the topic…. I was never a very “children” person. Before I had one of my own, when I went out with my “mom status” friends, by the time they were 10 minutes into kids’ talk, my mind had wandered off and my eyes glazed over. Ya. I was THAT bad. I’m happy to say that, now that I’ve my own children, I’m a lot better. My attention span on such topics has greatly improved.
Well, what can 3 Mommies talk about over dinner?? Obviously, kids lah! This time it’s about education!
Boy oh boy! The very much controversial topic. Yes. We may have different views on it but still friends, ya?!
I’ve read about tiger moms, heard about tiger moms, and a friend has even jokingly called me “tiger mom” (ha! If you are reading this, you know who you are!) But I swear that’s because they haven’t met a REAL one!! I’m at most a kitten mom. *blush* ☺️
Anyway, I’ve come to realise that it requires a lot of dedication, perserverence and of course vitamin M to qualify as a tiger mom. So I truly respect her for being to achieve it, on top of being a working mom whose job requires a fair bit of overseas travelling.
Her no 1 has taekwando classes 3x a week, learning lab science 1x a week, piano 1x a week, Chinese at berries 1x a week, ballet 1x a week, swimming 1x a week, and some tuition a few times a week (sorry, I kind of lost track because by then my eyes had already glazed over at the descriptions and I’m sure I’ve got most of it down).
Her no 2 has ballet, shichida, music and swimming (I think).
On top of all these, she coaches them on their studies, practises piano with them. When she’s on business trips, she sets them tasks and calls home to make sure that they stick to it.
Seriously, I doubt I can ever attain that kind of tiger mom nirvana. I’ve neither the patience nor the dedication.
That’s why I am at most, a kitten mom. I’ve restricted my no 1 to 3 enrichment classes and I thought I was already very hardworking! Hahahaha! Little do I know…. And I’ve totally given up on putting my no 2 in enrichment classes. He just amuses himself by pushing his stroller around the mall while his sister attends her 2 classes on sat. The lazy mom (me) just watches him indulgently, while he’s doing his weekly exercise.
The education topic discussion was adjourned as cat mom (because although her children have enrichment classes and tuition classes but fewer than eh hem, you know who.. ) needed to go home to coach her no 1 on a science/maths test.
Somehow “tiger mom” has a negative connotation to it. But it doesn’t have to be so. Just like not everyone can be the prime minister of a state, being a tiger mom is not for everyone. Every parent wants the best for their children. I just hope that all children will recognise the love that every parent has for them. It’s also a matter of choice.
I love my freedom too much to want to give it up and dedicate all my time to my children. No matter how much I love them, I still need time and space for myself so that I don’t lose my own identity. Besides being a mom, I’m also a wife, a daughter, a grand daughter, a sister and my own individual being. And yes I need 8 hours of sleep a day or I’ll become a snappish alligator the next day. (Be forewarned!)
Meanwhile I need to work on my tiger mom characteristics though I doubt that I’ll do very well in that aspect. But like my mom always says, it’s good to have aspirations! ROARRRrrrr!!! ?
*image kindly sourced and provided by JH*
*special request from tiger mom* eh! I’m not so selfless leh! I still take time off for monthly facials, dinner with friends, once a month take leave for a date with hubby and I watch Korean dramas after the children sleep!!
Ok ok! So I conclude…. She’s not just tiger mom, but…. Super Tiger Mom!!! Tee Hee!!
In the car, on the way home. The sun was shining in our faces.
小小宝贝 : Mama! Hot hot!
Me : oh! The sun is on your face. Where are your hat and sunglasses??
小小宝贝 : (in a piteous voice) Forgot…
Wow! Although it’s not in full sentences, we are able to hold a decent conversation. 19 months old and already a chatty toddler.
Soon he’s going to wear my ears out with his incessant chatter. I can’t wait for that day to come!!