Yes. It’s been pretty quiet round these parts, hasn’t it?
If I’ve been on holiday and haven’t bothered to update, it means I HAVE HAD A GREAT TIME.
Food
Prawn noodles from Adam Road Food Centre were ordered the night I arrived as the BBQ seafood stall wasn’t open. Mum had also bought loads of chwee kueh (steamed rice cakes with preserved turnip garnish) for breakfast, and myself and the cats enjoyed the ba kwa (barbecued pork slices) very much. My aunt was cool and cooked kiam chye ar (duck and salted vegetable soup) for the annual Reunion Dinner (also starring were fried Hokkien noodles, fish my aunt and uncle had caught off Bedok jetty the night before, rojak, and the inevitable raw fish salad).
I got another of my food requests at my grandfather’s house during Chinese New Year — steamed pomfret, Teochew-style. There was something I didn’t ‘order’ as I’d completely forgotten about it, but the ba kueh (stubby rice noodle cakes) was fan-fucking-tastic.
Then, of course, there’s the food I like and Neil loves and I ate and took pictures to piss him off. Barbecue stingray with sambal, plus baby kai lan with garlic at Newton. We even got some fried rice to go with it.
On my last day, we grabbed breakfast at Farrer Court hawker centre, Neil’s favourite place for roti prata. I got two plain pratas and the requisite vegetable curry.
I ate loads of other stuff, but these were the highlights.
Sights
On Chinese New Year’s Eve, I reverted to my childhood behaviour (i.e. going to my mother every five minutes with proclamations of extreme boredom) and persuaded my mum to take me to the River Hongbao, as nothing else was open. Chinese New Year is probably the only time you’ll see Chinese Singaporeans THROWING MONEY AT A TREE.
I also finally watched I Not Stupid (not bad) and I Not Stupid 2 (bad). Mum had wanted to watch Just Follow Law, Jack Neo’s satire on the Singaporean civil service. It wasn’t a satire at all, it kinda sucked. It was like a weak channel 8 sitcom that’s been stretched to feature-length. The acting wasn’t bad, but the story was shite.
We did also see Miss Potter (and I could hear my aunt whispering to my mum regarding its historical accuracy — we checked Wikipedia afterward), a light and pleasing flick. And my aunt was not at all keen on Notes on a Scandal (although she used my grandfather as an excuse — not his type of film at all, apparently). ‘Twas good.
I managed to run so many errands, because being a grown-up means you get up early, go out and do stuff in the morning, inhale lunch, take a NAP in the arvo, then head out for a feast at dinnertime. Bussorah Street was visited TWICE, and I got most of my pressies there. Brian has already used the slingshot I bought him and I hereby apologise to his neighbours for his behaviour on Saturday night / Sunday morning, although I wasn’t there.
Finally, here’s a picture of Doug and Ruthven.
Ruthven’s a present for Baby G. If Doug had fingers, you would see that he’s doing the bunny ears thing behind Ruthven’s head.
