迎财神 - welcoming god of wealth

today is the 5th day of chinese new year, it is the day to welcome or receive the god of wealth in china. i did not know about this day although i had heard a lot of more firework and fire cracker going on last night and this morning as the celebration of the chinese new year in china sort of slowly fade off after the eve and the 1st day. if i did not receive an msg from a local colleague wishing me luck, i would not have know about it. in singapore, the welcoming god of wealth is not a fixed day every year. it is determined base on the tong shu (通书 - Almanac).

so to welcome the god of wealth, we got our driver to help us to purchase firecracker and we would set it off before we go out.

the long chain of fire cracker

cracking...

reunion dinner + firework

因我将在7月回新长住所以在这新年就不回新加坡团圆了，但是团圆饭是不可缺少的。人就我们一家3口，菜就多一点，平时晚饭最多也3道菜罢了，今天4菜1汤，有一道还是我亲手做的。呵呵。。。其它的当然是老婆大人煮的好菜。

5道菜是 1。五香虾肉卷 2。芹菜炒蘑菇 3。蚂蚁上树（炒东粉） 4。卤味（卤鸡翅，卤蛋，卤香菇） 5。ABC汤（罗卜，马铃薯，肉骨，洋葱）

简简单单的团圆饭，意义深厚。

晚饭后大该在9点钟和同事一起在我们小区去放烟花，小孩放得开心，大人也开心。

过后11点的时候和大为骑了电瓶车往金鸡湖看烟花。天太冷我们边骑边发抖。我的电瓶车也开始有点小毛病了，没骑多远电瓶很快就没电了，所以上坡就得推。到了金鸡湖大桥，觉得不对劲，好像没有烟花吧！听说金鸡湖有烟花，被骗了。郁闷！半夜12点到，园区酒店，公寓都开始放烟花了，我们从金鸡湖大桥往西骑追看烟花。园区的烟花榜极了。没拍到好看的，只有这一张。

this time successful

continuing from yesterday on the ngoh hiong entry. i finally made a good ngoh hiong. i made 10 rolls and we ate 3 rolls during our reunion dinner. i am very happy as this time the taste was almost the same as my mon's ngoh hiong. there is still a slight different and i believe it related to the bean curb skin that i used. anyway, here are the steps.

chopped onion. need 1.5 big onion.

chopped garlic. 1 bulb

mixed the ingredient, minced port, prawn, garlic, onion, water chestnut, carrot, salt, sugar, 5 spices powder, soya sauce, soda biscuit, water together and this is the mixed.

put the mixed nicely on a square piece of bean curb skin.

roll it up and this is the ngoh hiong before steam.

place 4 rolls on a plate and ready to steam for 25mins.

the rolls after steam cook.

the roll can be taken after steam or cut it into small pieces and fry it. it tastes better after fried.

so, in summary, i made it after 2nd try and my family look this dish.

preparing for tomorrow

tomorrow is the chinese new year eve. chinese are to have re-union dinner tomorrow night, my family included. in order to have a good home cook feast, we are preparing the ingredient a day a head.

here are the chopped water chestnut and carrot for the ngoh hiong again. the previous ngoh hiong that i made was not up to standard. i used blender to blend the water chestnut, carrot and onion so it become too mess. with the chopped one, the taste of the ngoh hiong would be better because i will feel the crunchiness of the water chestnut and carrot when i bite on it.

My Own Siew Kang Dinner - 收工宴

it had many years that my friends have siew kang dinner. sort of a tradition for us (ex-WD colleagues). siew kang dinner is actually a dinner to celebrate the closure of the year and a job well done in the past year. i am not able to tell how many years we had siew kang dinner but it would be probably at least 12 years. we went separate ways since 1999, we always have this dinner and many of us never fail to attend, myself included. i missed last year's and this year's that is today as i am in china. no one wanted to buy me a ticket home for the dinner... haha.

these pictures were taken during the siew kang dinner 2005. we were glad that we had ks gouw joining for that year. it was his first skd with us and many of us never get to see him since 1999 after wd close it plant in singapore.

these pictures were taken during the siew kang dinner 2007. during this year, 4 of us are preparing to go oversea to work or to stay.

anyway, i thought since it is the last day of work for the year, we (my family and i) would go for a good dinner and celebrate siew kang.

we went back to the deep blue singapore seafood that we went couple of months back. this time round, we brought the camera so pictures will follow in the entry.

as usual the place was not crowded and i do believe it is the cause of the economy crisis. we requested for seating in the 2nd floor and the server lead us to a room without minimum charges. usually, restaurant in china charge a minimum charges for having meal in a room.

the room was cozy and big enough for a group of 6 to 8 dinners. it also looks out to the lake with very nice view.

two starters, the chicken mid wings and the sotong you tiao that cost 18rmb and 38rmb respectively. the flavor is very typical singapore style.

mee goreng cost 38rmb, we requested to be less spicy and indeed it is not too spicy. good dish.

this chicken curry is too spicy. i did not expect it to be this spicy at all. not too sure if the chef added too much chilly or it is normal. my mom cook chicken curry is spicy but never this spicy. could it be my taste bud issue? maybe not!!! anyway, this dish cost 36rmb.

this cuttle fish is what my wife love. nothing special to me but my wife finished it all. damage of 68rmb, the most expensive dish.

soya braised pork. taste was very local, i mean singapore local. it was cook just nice, not overcook where it become hard and tough when you chewed on it. we finished it except the fat between the lean and the skin... haha... wanted to be a little healthy. damage of 48rmb.

after the dinner we had our desert. it is the yam paste with ginkgo seed. although it looked small but it is right portion. tasted yummy but need a little sweeter. cost 10rmb each.

overall the dinner was very good with a damage of 300rmb but i knew that i could get a cash coupon of 50rmb discount for every 300rmb spent on the internet. so, the actual damage was only 250rmb (about S$55). very well spent for a family of 3.

i would recommend those who want to try some singapore flavour food to go to this restaurant. the cost is slight higher but it served with quality. the restaurant is having a promotion coupon of 50rmb discount for every 300rmb spent or 100rmb discount for every 500rmb spent till end of february.

finally

finally... i had completed the little nyonya drama series. the whole series was so exciting that i would want to watch another episode after i completed one. through this series, i learnt more about peranakan group but i cannot tell for sure if what shown actually happen in the older days.

1. the most oldest woman in the house is the decision maker for that house. the husband usually do not bother about any house related stuff.
2. tok panjang, the long table feast that rich peranakan have with friends/relative especially when they looking for potential son-in-law.
3. nyonya are supposed to cook very good food, otherwise, it is difficult to marry off.
4. nyonya are very good at beaded embroidery.

and u you have not watch it, try to locate a copy. it is a very excellent series about the peranakans.

Ngoh Hiong (五香）- Meat Roll

during the last trip home i already wanted to Ngoh Hiong here but always find excuses not to make. i bought the bean curb skin from singapore and had kept it for 6months till now. last week, i requested my parent for the recipe of the Ngoh Hiong and now here is the Ngoh Hiong.

have the carrot, water chestnut, onion mixed together through a blender.

mix the pork with those ingredient. add 5 spicies power, soda biscuit, salt, corn starch, water and stir well.

using bean curb skin to wrap up the paste.

steam it and this is the cook version.

ready to serve.

in total i had made 10 rolls and we had ate 4 rolls. the taste is not as good as what my mom made because i had accidently left out the sugar. the roll is too salty. anyway, my wife said is good since this is the first time that i made this.

see if i am free to make this again next week before the chinese new year.

no subjects

last few days temperature was as low as 0 degC but it is still very sunny. thus, it would be good to head out to take a breather.

nearby McDonald for lunch. very nice blue sky.

out in the open since the weather is so nice.

home cooked mee hoon kuek (板面) was delicious. i had two bowls for my dinner.

小娘惹 - Little Nyonya

Peranakan, Baba-Nyonya (traditional Chinese: 峇峇娘惹; Hokkien: Bā-bā Niû-liá) and Straits Chinese (土生華人; named after the Straits Settlements) are terms used for the descendants of the very early Chinese immigrants to the Nusantara region, including both the British Straits Settlements of Malaya and the Dutch-controlled island of Java among other places, who have partially adopted Malay customs in an effort (chronological adaptation) to be assimilated into the local communities.

Baba House Museum in Malacca, Malaysia, an area where many Peranakan Straits Chinese lived.The word Peranakan is also used to describe Chinese Indonesians. In both Malay and Indonesian, 'Peranakan' means 'descendants'. Babas refer to the male descendants and the Nyonyas the female. The word nyonya (also commonly spelled nonya) may originate from the Portuguese word dona, which means 'lady'.

why do i copy the explanation of peranakan? let me explain...

recently, i had start watching Singapore Mediacorp produced series name the little nyonya. this little nyonya had completed it airing in singapore and it was very well received. Although it was in mandarin, even the malays watched the show as well. So far, within a day, i had watched 5 episodes.

for those are who are interested to watch, you can do a search in the net and you maybe able to get a copy.

click here for more information related to the show.

X'mas and New Year celebration

i had a long holiday from 25th Dec to 4 Jan but no tour, no outing, no riding, oh... it's so bored. anyway, we do have two celebrations on the x'mas day and new year eve.

On xmas day, we had a pot luck dinner with the colleagues at the club house. each family were to prepare a few dishes. we prepare chicken curry and mushroom soup.

the kid having some sort of game before dinner.



the ladies having a pose with their best xmas clothing. haha...









let get our food before it turned cold as the place is not heated, we all have to have our jacket put on.







..........let eat.........









on the 31th Dec, we went out again, this time to haoledi karaoke. to cut it short and i am lazy these few days, so... just some video to show you how much fun we had... call me if you want to go karaoke... i am having sore throat now but next week onward should be fine... haha

chinese fast food

if you have not try chinese fast food before, i would advice that you try it. it is as fast as any western fast food and about the same price as most of the western fast food. this is my 3rd time taking chinese fast food, zhen gong Fu (真功夫) or real kongfu.

i had the stewed pork rib set. it come with a bowl of rice, a plate of green, a bowl of black chicken soup (this is not for those who get annoyed with chicken head, there is no chicken head in the soup but if you had not seen any black chicken before, avoid this soup) and of course the stewed pork rib. the meal was a good portion for me, not too salty and not too oily like most of the chinese food in china. it costs 23rmb and it was served real fast, within 3 minutes of ordering.

almost got conned

as my computer was not able to boot up, i brought it to the IT mall for verification and repair (if needed). i brought it to the 2nd floor and one of the shop helper was so willingly to help me to check what is the problem so i decided why not. i told him that i suspected either the motherboard or the power supply. without powering up the PC, he get his power supply and plug it into the motherboard and the same symptom occurred. he changed back to my power supply and also put some force on the CPU and check the RAM, and other connections and switched on the supply again. hurray, this time, the PC booted up and get into the Windows OS. I told him good, look like the computer has no problem but could be just some connection loose.

he then shutdown the PC, and switched it on again and trying to get into the BIOS setup by hitting the DEL key many times. this time it could not boot up anymore. i was wondering and ask him why, he claimed that the motherboard could be unstable. i went over and take a closer look and found that the RAM was sat properly and told him about it. he took out the RAM and plug it back and also plug a diagnostic card into the PCI slot. after which, he power up the system again and the card shows a C1, and i ask what does it stand for. he was unable to answer and told me the motherboard is unstable. i told him never mind as i suspected something i could do it at home. i also suspected that he is trying to kill the motherboard maybe and let me replace one at his shop. so, he put back everything, i thanked him and left the place.

my wife was with me and we decided we could get another shop to help to check if it is really the motherboard problem. this is like seeking a second opinion when your doctor told you that you need an operation. also, i am quite PC savvy so no one would be able to lie to me.

we went to the third floor, this guy is also very friendly and wanted to help check my PC. i told him the symptom and he opened the case and immediately removed the heatsink and get a new heatsink to install in. i told him i am not going to pay for that if i do not know the problem. he sensed that i was serious and use a used heatsink to try. this time it boot up again.

he said: "well, i told you this is the problem"

i know this is not the problem

i said: "well, let put back the original heatsink, i install the PC on my own, i know it is not the heaksink"

so, he swapped it back very unwilling and the PC boot up without any hesitation.

i said: "could you put it back everything and i help bring it home, if there is any problem, i will come back"

he was annoyed and said: "no, don't bring back here"

anyway, i thanked him and left. i was happy that i did not spend a single cent to have my PC fix other than the petrol use to travel to the IT mall. i am using the same PC that is supposing bad to write this blog entry.

the moral of the story are:
1. always check for loose connection on your PC before sending it for repair
2. always ask for second opinions
3. do not believe what they told you, always ask questions get to the bottom of the problem.

x'mas present

i left my computer power on yesterday night, this morning, i try to switch on but i was getting continuous short beeps. i checked it out from the motherboard website, look like my power supply is gone. i had myself a x'mas present. lucky me.

tomorrow, christmas day, i will need buy a power supply from the IT mall. maybe i could get myself a brand new PC for my x'mas present... hahaha...

eat eat eat eat

last week was a makan week for me, i had been having good meal for 2 days in a row, a total of 4 sumptuous meals with lot of calories and fats. haha... fortunately i rode 80km on saturday to get ride of those unwanted and unhealthy stuff.

thursday lunch at (吴地人家) wu di ren jia which served mainly suzhounese food. it is an engineering birthday celebration lunch for our boss. this is a regularly lunch that we would have whenever it is one of our engineering managers birthday. we had good meal.

on the same night, boss invited his staff and families to (美美) mei mei at rainbow walk for a dinner. the arrangement was good, kids were sat at their own place with pizza, fries and other stuff, while adults enjoy a good quality chinese food.


so, that was it for thursday, 2 chinese meals in a row.

friday was a shutdown day so the whole test group went for a annual dinner celebration. we had a lamb feast during lunch. i was told that lamb is very good for health during winter time specially because lamb is "heaty" food or high calories. we went to (藏书) cangshu which is another 5km west of (木渎) mudu. cangshu was a place where most of the lamb restaurant located. i counted like 10 restaurants with the character (羊) lamb on the sign board.


anyway, here were the food from various parts of the lamb. some of dishes tasted good while other were a little to my dislike.


after much food, it was time for beer. the chinese were really good at drinking. each (including the ladies in the group) could drink 5 bottles of (青岛) qingdao beer. back home in singapore, we seldom drink beer during lunch, it would be beer after dinner. here in china, beer can be served anytime. after breakfast, lunch or dinner and of course supper. drinking is a very important activity for social event here, usually one should not ever reject a toast from someone, it quite rude to do that.


before heading to our next destination for a afternoon tea and card games, we took a group picture outside the restaurant for remembrance.


after the test annual dinner during lunch time, i headed back home to pickup my family and we decided we should go for a japanese dinner. in suzhou, we had couple of japanese meal before but usually are the lower cost type (such as ajisen). this time, we went to a more posh restaurant. we had curry rice, terrayaki chicken set, western set kids meal, crispy tofu and chawamushi. every dishes were good other than the curry rice that had a lot of fat in the beef that the restaurant use. i had to separate the fat before i eat the dish. this was the best japanese meal i had in suzhou though it cost a little bit more, partially it is due to the ambience of the restaurant. the total damage was 167rmb (S$35).


by the way, jack neo's chinese new year movie is showing in singapore soon. usually the j-team shot commercial advising movies goers to switch off their phone before the start of the movie. here is the commercial "do not use the phone" that you must watch. very funny lah!!!

i am on china blog list

yesterday, my colleague david told me that my blog is on chinabloglist. i was very surprised, i mean i did not really expect that my blog would be on that list although i did submit it quite sometimes back and there was an error during the submission.

anyway, i am glad and happy. this indicate to me that my blog do have certain content that people are interested to read other than just friend or colleagues who are aware of my blog. i am going to write more and put more pictures on my blog.

thumbs up aik peng

心血来潮 - Dinner

心血来潮 炒米粉给家人吃

i am in a good mood today so i cook for my family. since we came to china, this is my second time that i cook. the first was the nasi-lemak and now the fried bee hoon. i would said it taste 6/10 but my wife loVE the bee hoon.

the ingredients are chinese sausage, ham, egg, lettuce (cai xin would be a better choice) and of course bee hoon (rice noodle)

here a picture

as hubby, sometime we would need to cook one or dish for the family instead of the wife who usually is the homemaker and the cook. if we cook, the wife usually would appreciate the effort.

bai tang garden

it was sunny although the weather in suzhou was cold ranging from 0C to 8C during day time. so i decided to visit the bai tang garden to take a few pictures. as i travel, the sun soon block by the cloud so the pictures taken today were not colorful.

suzhou has many constructions going on. especially in the SIP area where apartment and factories are build to cater for more workers.


while travelling to the garden, i pass by this abandoned bridge. suzhou has many bridges. i quite like this as it looks like very ancient and it stand out from the bare land. the bridge could be more than few hundreds year old. i did not manage to find anything that indicate it age but who knows.

a close up view of the bridge, it looks like it has gone through a few wars. the Chinese are clever, they advertised by painting their number on the bridge.

the garden was very empty and i feel rather sad or 凄凉.

i like this picture. it looked like the sun in the background but it was not. make a give what was that.

finally, before leaving the garden, took a picture of a loving couple strolling toward the exit.

i would be visiting this place again in spring time. i bet it will be more lively with more people and activities.