September - October activities :)

Jushinjung Korean BBQ

Today 3 of us went to have lunch at Jushinjung Korean BBQ. It's been quite some time we didn't patron this place. Suddenly hubby had a mood to eat. It doesn't come cheap, but the price had remained quite the same since many years ago. It is $29.90++ per pax, including 1 choice of main dish, e.g. grilled saba fish, spicy tofu soup, clear beef ribs broth, Korean mixed rice / bibimbab, spicy or normal cold noodle, and one more, I forgot what it is... plus 4 choices of meat to be grilled / BBQ-ed, which includes 3 types of pork and 1 type of marinated chicken. Aside from those, they usually come up with cold dishes, such as: cold tofu with spicy sauce, salad w/ salad sauce, salad w/ chilli sauce, kimchi, bean sprout, and many more.. hehehee.....

Wahhh.... I think both of us have grown old... We couldn't eat as much as before... hahahaha.... We only topped up 2 meat serving other than those had been provided earlier. My son ate a lot until the stomach like 6 months pregnant..... hahahaha...

It was wonderful meal, and thank you hubby for treating us :)

Me & Baobei

After that, we walked to the opposite of the building. We went to Haw Par Villa. It used to be a Singapore tourist main attraction in 1990s. Many people visited Singapore during that time would surely go to this place. Even I could remember that I went there before. Now we brought our son to go to this place :)

Entrance of Haw Par Villa

My son w/ Tiger Balm products

"In 1988, the Singapore Tourism Board took over the running of the Tiger Balm Gardens and renamed it as Haw Par Villa Dragon World. The statues were restored while retaining the original flavor. Plays, acrobatic displays and puppet shows were also organized. However, visitors were charged entrance fees. The high fees discouraged the public and the management incurred a loss of S$31.5 million after 10 years of management. The gardens made money for the first year of operations after renovations in 1994, broke even in 1995 but lost money for the next 3 years and was forced to have free entry in 1998. In March 2001, the Singapore Tourism Board renamed it Tiger Balm Gardens and entrance fees dropped. Now it is opened to public daily from 9am to 7 pm with free admission.

The park contains over 1,000 statues and 150 giant dioramas depicting scenes from Chinese folklore, legends, history and illustrations of various aspects of Confucianism. The attractions include statues of the Laughing Buddha and the Goddess of Mercy, as well as dioramas of scenes from Journey to the West. The most well-known attraction is the Ten Courts of Hell, with gruesome depictions of hell in Chinese mythology, all set in a 60 meter-long trail of a Dragon (Source: wikipedia.org)."

The owners of this place are the family who manufacture the famous Tiger Balm. It's a medicine balm to treat pain, inflammation and to strengthen muscle, consists purely of herbal ingredients, was originally named for containing tiger bone.

Fu Lu Shou - God of Good Fortune (Fu) - right, Prosperity (Lu) - middle, and Longevity (Shou) - left

Statues of these three gods are found in nearly every Chinese home and many Chinese-owned shops on small altars with a glass of water, an orange or other auspicious offerings, especially during Chinese New Year. Traditionally, they are arranged right to left (so Fu is on the right of the viewer, Lu in the middle, and Shou on the far left) - same like the photo above.

We also went into the famous Ten Courts of Hell. Inside, we could see the different punishments for every bad things that were done by human during their lives. Usually kids would be afraid of doing bad things after entering to this place, since the consequences were really scary.... Hope my son could learn from it and deter himself from doing bad things in his life.

Py, Me, and Ellen

26 September 2012 - My best buddies treated me birthday dinner at Ssikkek Korean BBQ - Oriental Plaza Building, Outram Park. They both are my ex-colleagues and I am so fortunate to have known them in my life. We could get along well and we help one another especially when our spirits were down and enjoyed our times together when there were happy occasions.

Definition of true friend: "Those who can listen to you when you are in need, those who you can share your sad and happiness with.., those who can lift you up when you're down and make your life more beautiful."

Hope we can grow old together. Like PY said, she hopes three of us can still 'lim'/drink coffee together in coffee shop when we have become aunties one day like what those aunties now do (it's very common to see aunties and uncles sitting together in coffee shop drinking coffee and chit chatting every morning :)).

Inside the Buddha's Hall - Students performance

29 September 2012 - Baobei last day of Buddhist class in year 2012.
I enrolled him to Saturday Buddhist school in Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery in Bishan since he was Primary 1. He learns the Chinese class. I just hope he also has good fate with Buddhism since young and can learn and practice it in his daily lives. He is now Primary 4, and it was his last class for year 2012.

Baobei was enjoying his ice cream :)

On the last day of the school, each class has to perform and he was chosen to join as well. My hubby and I watched his performance as they allowed parents to watch. He only played a small role, but no matter big or small, I think it's the participation and experience that matters. He was so happy seeing our presence there :)

Queuing for presents from teacher

The teacher distributed ice cream cup to each of them and his teachers gave them a card, stationery, so that they could remember the happy moments that they have had together during the one year they were together. 

My brother

30 September 2012 - My brother's birthday and also Mid-Autumn Festival.
My brother asked us to have lunch at Tony Roma's in Suntec. Other than 3 of us, he also invited Jack, my cousin from Hong Kong. I only have one brother and he also stays here in Singapore with his families. He is 40 years old now. Wow!!! Couldn't believe it how time flies.... Hubby and I bought him the Adidas cum Chelsea jacket, as Chelsea is his favorite football team all the time... Hope he likes it :)

Bright full moon

We celebrated mid-autumn festival (also known as Mooncake festival or Chinese lantern festival) every 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese lunar calendar. On this day, the moon would shine brightly in the sky, unless if it's cloudy.

On that day, I went to 2nd floor of our house where the playgrounds were located. From there, we could see the moon. Many neighbours were there as well. They brought down their children, their pets and gathered together to see the beautiful moon, eating mooncakes, lighting up lanterns, etc.

Eating mooncake and orange under the moon-shines.... :)

Hubby and I brought orange, mooncake, my brother's birthday cake down. We found a seat and pampered ourselves to eat under the moon-shines... hehehe... My son was there too playing his basketball. We didn't buy any lantern for him anymore as he has grown up now. 

These are lanterns that can be found at Chinatown - made for children (battery operated)

As for mooncake, usually a month or two before the festival date, hotels, restaurant, or bakery shop started selling mooncakes. There are few types of mooncakes: Normal one (round or rectangular shape), usually filled up with red bean, lotus seed paste, added with salted egg yolk, mixed nuts, etc; Flaky crust mooncake, usually crispy outside (layer of puff pastry) filled with yam paste; Snowskin mooncake - has to be kept chilled in refrigerator - more modern type with champagne paste, chocolate truffle, durian paste, etc. as fillings; Jelly mooncake - this one seldom be found in Singapore, etc.

Salad, soup, desserts and fruits

Chicken and beef sausage, roasted chicken, rosti, fries, sauerkarut, mustard

10 October 2012 - Oktoberfest at Cafe 1 (Staff cafeteria where I work) and my brother's son birthday

Every month, every department in my working place has to organize a theme day in staff cafeteria. I work in hotel so meals are provided and usually we eat our meals in staff cafeteria. This month, it is our department's turn to organize. Usually there were themes chosen as some public holiday falls on certain month, e.g. Singapore National Day falls in August, so the theme day for August will be National Day. As for October, we were given open options. From our meeting, we agreed to choose Oktoberfest as our theme.

My colleagues and I - Root-beer ladies... :P

Oktoberfest is actually beer festival that is held annually in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. These past few years the tradition has melted into Singapore. Usually there were Oktoberfest celebrations in German restaurants in Singapore as many Swiss/German people staying in Singapore and they really like to have it here. My GM is one of them. He and his families always attend the Oktoberfest at least once a year wearing the traditional Oktoberfest costumes.

Sausage eating competition (GM - 2nd from left and Turkish Chef - 3rd from left)

Root-Beer drinking competition - Prost!!!!

Short to say, we managed to get the Oktoberfest decorations (banners, flags, posters, etc), paper table clothes, beer glasses from our beer supplier. We also liaised with Chef and planned what type of food to be served during the day, and ensured that all ingredients were there. My other colleagues were in charged with the presents for our sausage eating and root-beer drinking competition, some was in charged of the poster, and songs to be played during the event. Oh ya, forgot to say... since it was held during office hour, we weren't allowed to serve beer, so as replacement, we served A&W root beer... hehehehe....

Everything went well. Our boss and GM also enjoyed the event. It's all team work. Well done!!!

Astro's Birthday - California Pizza Kitchen at Forum, Orchard
After work, I went directly to the restaurant and met the rest of the people. Hehehe... My hubby and son didn't join as hubby was working and son was at home. He turns 16 this year!! When asked about what is his birthday wishes... he replied, "To get good grades...". Wow... how I wish my son would say that to me.... hahahahaha........ :D

Astro Birthday Dinner

Well, that's about it!! Will update again... Hope you enjoyed your activities too.... Have a nice week ahead!!!