Mummy and Daddy's visit 12 - 17th February 2009

East Coast Parkway beach where we had our picnic lunch after a visit to Changi POW Museum

a hazy skyline with the Flyer in the far distance



School is way down below - all the lowish buildings you can see in the rectangle from the blue netted scaffolding on the right, going left and back.

Mummy on the 21st Floor of the Fusionopolis building near school standing on the sky garden






supper with the kids using our new barbecue




Niall managed to sit down and enjoy some time with M&D at the weekend, and a couple of dinners, at the Polo Club, a Thai restaurant on Valentine's Night and at Flutes at the Fort at Fort Canning










The Tuas causeway bridge to Malaysia,
we are on the west coast of Singapore
by Raffles Marina, standing in front
of a beautiful 160ft yacht from George Town, Cayman Islands



We sampled the heat by watching Doug and Archie play rugby matches against the Lycee, no mud present, we still need rain



swimming in the pool and enjoying the sunshine, not so much the humidity


Along the Malaysian railway line, a storm canal in the background


Mummy and Daddy arrived on 12th February and stayed with us for 6 whistle stop days. Walking Jet along the railway lines, watching the boys play rugby, Corinna ride at the Polo Club

Caged animals - trampoline & Spring Rolls

Pink Frangipanni


Guada making yummy spring rolls
Archie and Douglas our two little puppies
Archie having fun with water filled balloons on the trampoline in the garden

ARCHIE THE GREEK WARRIOR

waiting for the chariot to arrive - school bus and taxi to work for Niall


well, sort of warrior like


with his valiant dog Jet

Peking Duck and Tea Appreciation

I had a fascinating morning a a Tea House, being shown the 4 types of tea - white, green, oolong and black and which part of the plant and how to make and pour and drink it, we then tried them all ith some delicious dim sum. I didn't realise it was such an art, I have now rverted to having tea without milk and its much nicer - I am sure the weather helps.
with or without the head - they serve the crispy skin with Hoisin sauce, shredded cucumber and spring onions, and they take the duck away and then chop up the meat and serve it with egg fried rice - we now know where to buy the pancakes and Guada has also made them, so we can cook a couple of duck and eat the lot - more exploring needed here

Chinese New Year traditions and decorations

A lion dancing truck - the lion dancers bring good luck and prosperity to whoever and wherever they dance, and while they are doing it there is someone beating a very loud drum. The lions give out peeled oranges from their mouths, verydramatic
Ox with capes and luscious red lips
green areas are decorated with these - the year of the OX, what will they think of next
""Low High"" Salad that is eaten - it is tossed by everyone around the table with their chopsticks as high as possible to bring lots of prosperity
A mandarin bush for decoration, also use Four Lime bushes or trees and Pussy Willow which are decorated with red ribbons or red pipecleaners
the inside of a Pomelo
Pomelo - another CNY fruit that they tend to eat - they are huge, rather like a grapefruit, but much less juicy and not as bitter - delish on their own and would feed a whle rugby team!
At a little shop that specialised in bbq'd pork called Bak --- which is a little like a 4" square of streaky bacon that has been covered in spices and honey and then bbq'd - it was delicious, slightly sweet and rather morish (I had thought it looked like fried spam and would have been as tough as old boots - I was so wrong!
all the Chinese houses are decorated with red banners/sashes and red paper lanterns, or red paper pineapples - very colourful
another CNY delicacy - gluteanous rice cakes with dessicated coconut inside or peanut butter or bean paste - not very pleasant. The green is from he pandan leaf - these were 50cents each and sank to the bottom of your stomach
once cooked the biscuits are carefully packed into the tubs. We were only able to buy one tub each as there was such a demand for them from the locals, 5 days before CNYthe Aunties painstakingly rollingup the pineapple which has been slightly dessicated into tiny balls that are then surrounded by buttery biscuit mixture
Making Pineapple biscuits for CNY - $19 for 25 a labour of love, but delicious