Horrible Monday

163 confirmed Covid cases, the highest in quite a long while.

3rd murder case within the week and involving students, a 13-year old and a 16 year old.

My whatsapp groups had been buzzing the entire afternoon since news broke of the incident at RVHS.

As I broke the news to A, I couldn't help but felt overcome with grief and sadness. A is also a Sec 1 student, he will be 13 in November. I had that sudden urge to hold him tight.

We don't know what happened or what constitutes the boy to commit such an irrational heinous act.

Stress? Pressure? 

As I shared with the various chatgroups, our children are living and constantly being baked in a highly pressurized society.

The unspoken measure of success being a Singaporean student, excel academically and at all fronts, get a good job.

While there has been considerable efforts from the government in moving away from grades, the mindset of the general public still has to be changed.

I hope through this very unfortunate incident, there can be more emphasis on mental wellness.

Where we thought that such things only happens overseas or on TV, it has indeed happened on our shores. 

2 lives, 2 families, things will never be the same for them again.

As a nation, while we mourn and grief , do let the families, students, teachers of the school have the privacy and space to make sense of what had happened.

Turn to our children tonight, hug them a little tighter, spend just that 5 more minutes with them.

Helplines

If you are feeling distressed, or know someone who seems troubled, get help immediately. Talk to somebody. Here are some helplines:

National Care Hotline: 1800 202 6868 (8am-12am daily, from 1 Sep 2020)
Samaritans of Singapore: 1800 221 4444
Institute of Mental Health: 6389 2222
Silver Ribbon Singapore: 6385 3714
Tinkle Friends (for children): 1800 2744 788
TOUCHline (Counselling): 1800 377 2252

July 2021 - entered the second half of the year just like a gust of wind

 1st July 2021

Just like that the first half of the year flew by.

Its been a turbulent first half of the year. Although we didn't have any "Circuit Breaker" like last year but a month long "Phase 2 Heightened Alert" still feels somewhat like a "mini Circuit Breaker"

P2HA was imposed from 16 May through to 13 June 2021. 

https://www.gov.sg/article/additional-restrictions-under-phase-2--heightened-alert

The no dining-in rule hits hard at this tiny island where everyone of us were so used to being able to just plonk ourselves at the nearby hawker centre or coffeeshop and enjoy a cup of Kopi and perharps localised meals, Bak Chor Mee, Chee Cheong Fun, Porridge all served piping hot.

Schools switched to HBL (Home-Based Learning) mode as well. Something I dread. LOL

Oh well, at the least I don't have to deal with back-to-back national exams this time. 

If there is anything that is positive from it all, a 'lock-down' gives us all time to actually bond and just be with the family together, even if there's the Zoom lessons, in between. :)

For sure, those 'me-time' moments are dearly missed. But hey! for the larger picture at stake, I don't mind at all. 

A has got his first dose of the vaccine and I just got the 2nd dose yesterday (missy wong had both doses way before us as a healthcare student and dopplerganger minister had completed his 2nd dose in June). This was something I insisted all of us to take as it at the very least offers us some form of protection from the virus, variant or future forms. While the hubs and I took the M vaccine, both the Wongs were injected with the P as they fall under the age group that allows only the P vaccine to be administered.

Hoping that everything will at least return to 60% normalcy post pandemic. We will need to adjust to living in a new norm with an endemic, with much needed positivity, I'm pretty sure we will be able to ride through this storm!

Day 1 of 2016 (PSLE YEAR!!)

 1st Jan 2016

Start of 2016 means its the start of a super stressful year for me.

This will be the year princess takes her PSLE (Primary School Leaving Examinations). 

Every child's first national exam after 6 years of compulsary education. 

Is she prepared? I'm really not sure.

I didn't do well for my own PSLE as well, but what's stopping me from doing what I love and enjoy?

The takeaway from my own 6 years of education, "去学校就是要长知识，学做人“ (the purpose of attending school is to gain knowledge and be a useful person)

But thankfully the education system has evolved since I took the same exam eons ago.

Yes, I don't deny that I am a Tiger Mum. I believed as long as  100% effort is put in, whatever the results, we are at least answerable to ourselves.

B is not exactly the studious type since toddler days. She's good at sports and conversations. 😅

She learnt how to ride a bicycle in under one hour. Picked up different sports in school through PE lessons and CCA. Naturally she is deemed a natural bowler by the school and her coach.

And it helps that she has a passion for the sports.

We discussed at lengths about the secondary schools that offers bowling as a CCA. Big Brand name schools 😞 I don't carry any hopes of her even making it to the gate.

The last one year has been a struggle trying to get her to at the very least, get a pass for PSLE.

I went to a neighbourhood secondary school as well, but I flourished and emerged among the top of the cohort.

So for us, it didn't matter if she went to a top school or a neighbourhood school. All schools are good schools. As long as she works hard, she will flourish anywhere.

As for A who's just starting P2, I think i better start drilling him now, even though he's deemed to be still in the 'honeymoon' stage.

Teriyaki Chicken Don

Kids have been complaining of porridge or even rice for lunch.  So in a bid to spice up their boring routine lunch menu, decided to google and try to see if I can create a different menu for them.

Teriyaki Chicken Rice Bowl (Teriyaki Chicken-don) with miso soup.

Menu adapted from Just One Cookbook

Teriyaki Chicken

Ingredients

Boneless Chicken Thigh with skin, rinsed & pat dry

1tbsp oil (for pan frying)

2 tbsp sake (or hua tiao wine)

Sauce ingredients:

2tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp water

1 tbsp sake

1 tbsp mirin

1 tbsp sugar

1/2 onion, grated including juice

1" ginger, grated including juice

Cut chicken thigh into small bit size pieces, leave skin on.

Prick chicken so meat can absorb more of the flavours.

put everything in a ziploc bag,

Add sauce ingredients into the ziploc bag.

Marinate 2-3hrs or overnight.

heat oil in a pan, pan fry the chicken pieces, skin side down 

so skin can turn brown nicely.

Reserve the liquids for later use.

when skin turns brown, turn chicken over and add 2 tbsp sake.

cover pan and cook for 8-10mins

remove chicken from pan and wipe off excess oil with kitchen towels

heat oil and place chicken back into pan, skin side down and cook til skin turns crispy.

flip the chicken and add the reserved sauce and cook till sauce is reduced.

keep chicken pieces moist with the sauce from the pan, use a spoon to drizzle the sauce over the chicken while cooking.

Transfer the chicken onto a plate and drizzle remaining sauce over them.

Voila!

Miso Soup

Add 2 packets of miso soup ingredients, add hot water,

add tofu, fish cake, pork belly slices

topped with spring onions.

Done!

Singapore's Jubilee Weekend and 50th National Day SG50 - 8th Aug 2015

Very belated post. But the past 2 months was hectic... No time to even on the computer to blog.
2015 is gonna be one year that will be remembered by many for many years to come.

The year our founder of modern Singapore passed away; yet also the year 'the little red dot' celebrate 50 years of independence.  这50年的确走得不容易.

To celebrate the Jubilee year, the government announced a year long celebration all over the island, in a bid to get all Singaporeans to join in the festivities. The biggest reward for all of us, an extra public holiday declared on 7th Aug; Making the weekend extra long. A whole week (5 days) of holiday. Yay!


Singaporeans, known to be travellers worldwide, hit the travel agencies and budget carriers the moment the announcement was made. Prices of tickets rose by at least 40% in just one night.  A week long holiday can mean travelling to nearby places like, Hong Kong, Macau, Bangkok, even Australia.

I had to admit, we were one of them too. But as the man was unable to decide if we wanted to travel over the extra long weekend, travel plans were scrapped.  We, however, decided to make full use of the extra long weekend by being a tourist in our own country, joining in the festivities everywhere.

Marina Barrage was our first stop on Day 1, 7th Aug.The plan was to watch the Black Knights' aeronautical display. Unfortunately, there was a thunderstorm just before the performance was due to start, the bad weather had also not permitted the pilots to fly.

Day 2 - 8th Aug, Marina Bay, where all the festivities were held. We literally covered the entire Marina Bay area, from Floating Platform to Esplanade to Shenton Way to Marina Bay Sands to Jubilee Bridge and back to Floating Platform, on FOOT. Phew!! The night ended with a spectacular fireworks and lighting display at MBS.

Lots of memories floating back, remembering that my first real job was actually at the Shenton Way area. And we used to frequent Clifford Pier (now the Fullerton Bay Hotel) for lunch.

Along the way, we had our fair share of fun too, the tasting of food, the singing and of course, introducing the kids to the CBD area.

Day 3 - 9th Aug, Back to Marina Barrage again, this time, we spent the entire day there, with a picnic with a couple of friends and family and of course, watching the Black Knights in action.  It was humid and hot, but we had fun! Thank God for the good weather so we could watch the Black Knights in action.

Black Knights in action

Since this is the first time we are in the country during an extra long weekend, my closest girlfriends, we had been friends since poly days (19 years and counting) decided on the picnic and of course staying around to watch the NDP and fireworks later.  But we did not prepare food for dinner though!! haha so dinner was packed food from nearby Satay By the Bay (local food for a very local celebration! LOL)

See the crowd??

Enduring the humid weather and scorching sun was not in vain. The highlight and finale of the night was the fireworks display, always a crowd favourite.

SQ380 painted with the Singapore Flag doing its flypast.

3 full days of play, the kids really zonked out the moment they climbed onto the car making our way home from Marina Barrage.

Fun? of course! It was an opportunity for us to bring the kids on an impromptu heritage trail and also show them a different side of their country. Afterall, they will be the ones who will see this 'little red dot' through to SG100.

Happy Birthday Singapore! I am proud to call myself a citizen of the Lion City. To many more years to come!

Teacher's Day 2015

It has been a while since I even bothered to assist the children with teachers' day gifts. Pure simple reason, couldn't afford the time and I'm not exactly arty farty. Haha.

But after seeing so many posts on others had done for their kids' teachers, I decided to engage the kids in some art & craft session. This could keep them busy while I do my revision for my final exams. :)

Their school had always had a policy of discouraging the children from buying gifts for the students. Old-fashioned me feels likewise, being well-behaved and achieving good grades are the best presents any teacher or parent could ask for.  However, the school do allow handmade gifts or cards.

So this time, we decided to make cards, bookmarks and cookies for all their teachers. Cards and bookmarks were made with leftover materials we found at home, felt, cork coasters, strings.
Went Daiso to buy decorative items to decorate them. That's it.

Print out the free printable alphabets.  Can google and search for them. Trace them out on a freezer paper using a permanent marker.  Iron the freezer paper onto the felt or cloth and cut out the alphabets.  You can get the kids to do the sticking while you cut out the alphabets.
Easy right?


As for the cookies, by coincidence, Adriel borrowed a book on snacks from the school library. While scanning through the recipes, I came across the chocolate chip cookies recipe, so rummaged through the kitchen I went.  Chocolate chips checked, flour, checked, butter checked, shortening checked. Basically I had all ingredients available. Found a pack of pistachios and an orange as well.  So added all to the original recipe. Haha!

End results, Awesome, the cookies were crunchy, nutty with the slight tinge of orange,.... YUMMY!
We have to stop ourselves from munching and munching on them.

So it was handmade cork card for their form and co-form teachers, a bookmark for Beatrice's tutor and handmade cookies for the other subject teachers.

The recipe as follows;

Orange Chocolate Chip and Pistachio Cookie

Makes 16 cookies (depends on size)

40mins Preparation Time

15mins Cooking Time

70g butter

30g shortening (we did a 50:50 ratio for more crunch)

1 egg

100g fine brown sugar

25g fine caster sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract (or essence)

150g plain flour

1/2 tsp baking powder (omit if using self-raising flour)

Optional Ingredients

75g chocolate chips

75g crushed almonds / pistachios (or any nuts you like)

Zest of 1 orange

Juice of 1 orange

Method:

Preheat Oven to 180 deg

Line trays with baking paper

Whisk the butter, egg till creamy.

Add in the brown and caster sugar and vanilla extract.

Add in the zest and orange juice.

Mix till well combined.

Add in the nuts and chocolate chips and mix well using a spatula or wooden spoon.

Chill in fridge for 30mins.

I prefer to use a piping bag to pipe out the dough so its not so messy.

Alternatively, you could roll the dough with your hands into balls and flatten them using a fork or hands.

Bake at 180deg for 15mins or untill golden.

Leave on rack to cool and store in an air-tight container.

Cookies are good to last for about 1 week.

Helping to save some lives - Nepal Earthquake

The 2015 Nepal earthquake (also known as the Gorkha earthquake) which killed more than 7,000 people and injured more than twice as many, occurred on 25 April, with a magnitude of 7.8.

It was the most powerful disaster to strike Nepal since 1934.

News have been reporting how the UN and the international community has been pooling resources together and helping in relief efforts in Nepal.

Nepal to me, though I've never been to the country, is a tranquil place, undaunted by the advancement of technology.  The country has its own charms other than it is home to Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world.

There has been many reports of lives saved from the rubbles and how lives were taken away as well.

My heart goes out to the little children, homes destroyed, some may have been separated from their parents or even may have lost them to Mother Nature.

Doing my little bit to help in recovery.

Purchased them at Yeap Medical Supplies and straightway sent to Rotary Club collection point.