Eugene, The SINGER

08 December 2011

I think he's got a very good ear for music.

Eugene, The Waiter

02 December 2011

Eugene playing "Waiter". 

I find it very amusing to play make-believe games with him :)

A Moving Masterpiece @ Singapore Expo 2011

29 December 2011

 
Extracted from Wikipedia :

Along the River During the Qingming Festival (清明上河图; Qīngmíng Shànghé Tú) is a panoramic painting by Song Dynasty artist Zhang Zeduan (1085–1145). 

It captures the daily life of people from the Song period at the capital, Bianjing, today's Kaifeng.

The theme celebrates the festive spirit and worldly commotion at the Qingming Festival, rather than the holiday's ceremonial aspects, such as tomb sweeping and prayers. 

The entire piece was painted in hand scroll format and the content reveals the lifestyle of all levels of the society from rich to poor as well as different economic activities in rural areas and the city. 

It offers glimpses of period clothing and architecture.

As an artistic creation, the piece has been revered and court artists of subsequent dynasties have made several re-interpretive replicas. The painting is also known for its geometrically accurate images of variety natural elements and architectures, boats and bridges, market place and stores, people and scenery.

Digital version

For a three month period in the World Expo 2010 presented at the China Pavilion, the painting was remade into an 3D animated, viewer-interactive digital version, titled River of Wisdom, about 30 times the size of the original scroll. 

The computer animated mural, with moving characters and objects and portraying the scene in 4-minute day to night cycles, was one of the primary exhibitions in the Chinese Pavilion, drawing queues up to two hours with a reservation. Elaborate computer animation gives life to in the painting.

See the fantastic animations below. Pardon the shaky video.

The animated scroll is huge and long. It is truly amazing. I was so mesmerized by it.
I felt that I was been transported back to that Song Dynasty era.

Don't miss it! It is truly worth a visit!

A Moving Masterpiece

The Song Dynasty As Living Art

International Premiere of the Animated QING MING SHANG HE TU

7 Dec'2011 - 6 Feb'2012

Hall 3 at Singapore EXPO

Chicken Tikka Masala

I've always got a fondness for Indian food and really loves eating their curries and dahl with naan.

But have always been intimidated by all the different spices to add.

But I decided to try to make an Indian dish at least once. And so here goes.

I pounded the fennel seeds as fine as I could as I couldn't find any in powdered form.

I guess one could most probably find it in 'Mustafa' but am just too lazy to go all the way there just to get a packet of it.

Recipe from : Indian Simmer. She's got wonderful recipes for Indian food and great, great food pics.

Ingredients:

For Chicken Tikka:
4 boneless skinless chicken thighs (cut into cubes)
1 tsp Kashmiri red pepper powder (This is a red pepper which is not very hot but gives a beautiful color. But you can also use cayenne pepper if you can't find it)
1 1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste
1 1/2 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp garam masala
1/2 cup yogurt (any fat % is fine)
1 1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp red food color (optional)
Salt

For the tomato sauce:
1 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes (pureed)
1 tbsp garlic paste (I prefer fresh but you can use store bought too)
1 tbsp ginger paste
1 tbsp onion powder (optional)
1 tbsp coriander powder
1 1/2 tsp powdered black pepper
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp powdered fennel seeds
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp chopped cilantro (for garnish)
Salt

Method:
For Chicken Tikka:
Mix all the dry ingredients into the mixture of yogurt and lemon juice to prepare a marinade.
Add chicken pieces into the marinade.
Mix everything well. Cover the bowl and let it sit in the refrigerator for at least an hour. I did it overnight.
Thread the chicken pieces onto the skewers.
Grill the skewered chicken until done or pop it into the oven for 15-20 minutes at a temperature of 400 deg. F (205 deg. C)


For the Masala:
Pour oil in a thick bottom pan. Add ginger garlic paste.Turn on the heat and let the paste slowly cook as the oil heats up. This perfumes the oil and also your house!
When the oil is hot, add onion, coriander, fennel, black pepper powder and garam masala. Mix it all together.
Add tomato puree and mix it very well with all the spices. Let it simmer for about 15 minutes until the sauce starts reducing and the excess water evaporates. Stir occasionally scraping the bottom.
Add cooked chicken pieces along with the drippings if cooked in an oven and cream. Mix it all together and let it simmer for another 5-7 minutes.
Turn off the heat, cover with a lid and let it sit for at least 10 minutes before serving. My mom always says that letting the Indian curry sit for a few minutes before serving helps all the spices do wonders!
Garnish with some chopped cilantro and serve with nann, roti or rice pulao.

I added peas instead of cilantro to add some colour to the dish.

I would say it tasted quite good for a first try.

I couldn't put too much chilli as hubby is unable to take too spicy stuff and also I wanted Eugene to try it too.

Well, we finished the dish with some wraps I had bought from the supermarket :)

Presents from Santa

Of cos, the kid believed that Santa came to his home and gave him the presents.

He even slept extra early X'mas eve as we told him that Santa won't come if he's awake, ha ha.

He was fascinated with the "Thomas Big Loader' which he saw on Youtube and requested this for his Christmas present from Santa.

My bro's 3 kids bought for Eugene the below. So sweet of them! Thanks guys!

Eugene actually prefer 'Bob The Builder' but it seems that dear BOB is not so popular here. Can't really seem to find 'BOB' stuff.

Birthday @ Casa Latina

I had wanted a big birthday party (yes, my kakis, you know why har) but as the time drew closer, I just wanted a quiet sit down dinner. Guess as you get older, you prefer 'peace'.


 
Hubby asked where I want to go for my birthday. I googled and decided on 'Casa Latina' as the reviews' good and said that this is the most authentic Mexican restaurant you can find in Singapore.

Appetizer : Ceviche Estilo  (Shrimps or fish cooked with tomatoes, onion, coriander and fresh chillies)

We shared this. I liked it. Nice and refreshing.

Chilli Poblano Soup (Made with Poblano pepper, it is often served in Mexican weddings and special occasions)

I liked this too. Not heavy with hints of pepper.

Las Carnitas (Little Meats)  - A fiesta food done in Michoacán-style cooking comprising Pork confit served with corn tortillas and special Mexican sauce.
Hubby had this for his main course. Shredded pork was dry and tough, blah...

Pozole Rojo (Hearty Mexican Stew)  -Traditional pre-Columbian stew made of pork stock, guajillo chillies, red radish, onion, oregano, dry chillies, lime and lettuce. 
I had the stew.  What a let down. It was not awful but it wasn't fantastic. I think they used the same kind of shredded pork in this stew. Blah again...

The most delicious item we liked were the nachos chips which they served with 2 kinds of dip - one the usual salsa dip and another dip which was black in colour - delicious.

Maybe we should have stuck to the common dishes like the Quesadilla and Enchiladas but since the reviews were raving that this is as authentic as you can get, we wanted to try the real Mexican food of cos!

Maybe we are 'suakoos' and this is the real taste but we didn't really like the main course that we had.

CASA LATINA
42 Waterloo Street
Singapore 187951
Email: info@casalatina.com.sg
Tel: 6884 6929

We took a walk to the City Hall MRT station. Along the way, there was this huge bike at the NTUC building and Eugene insisted on sitting on it.

CHIJMES was along the way and we headed there for an ice-cream treat for the kid (hey, I thought it was suppose to be my birthday?)

The kid had most of the chocolate ice-cream. 

Wow, the chocolate ice-cream was so good, it's like eating cold chocolate. That's how thick it was.

Don't know the name of this ice-cream parlour but I think it's the only ice-cream joint there.

As you get more mature (let's not use the word 'old'), you realise that nothing beats having your family with you.

Merry Christmas to Everybody too!

Dinosaurs Play

Some of the toy dinosaurs that we bought before going to the Dinosaurs Live at the Science Centre.

We got this book at a flea market and it comes with a large map and some dinosaurs too!

The kid's been asking to go to the Dinosaure museum again and we most probably will before it ends in February.

Fire Tornado & Water-Play @ Science Centre (2)

15 December 2011

Walle is so cute!

Awesome!

See the Fire Tornado video below...

So much fun at the Water-Play...

Dinosaurs-Live ! @ Science Centre (1)

15 December 2011

The only dinosaur's name I know is the T-Rex, from Jurassic Park, oh and also Raptors.


The rest, the names are xxxxxx-saurus - well, they all seem to end in something something 'saurus'.

Raptors

Eugene was scared of this huge croc.

The kid looking a little apprehensive here....

Mommy, can you take the pic fast! I don't like being so close.

I would have liked to read the information that's there about the dinosaurs but with the kid running here and there, it was kind of difficult and losing him will be easy as the place's pretty dim.


The kid likes dinosaurs and now he can see how big they can be. We borrowed some books on dinosaurs from the library and he's been asking the names of the different kind of dinosaurs.


Hubby told him and he knows some of the names now and can pronounce them very well - like the 'triceratops',  which dinosaurs eats plants - the 'mamenchisaurus.


So he's been going out and carrying his dinosaurs with him - his latest 'favourite' - for this week.

Thomas, Bob The Builder, Angelina @ United Square

14 December 2011

Eugene really enjoyed his  Bob-The-Builder at Millenia Walk earlier in the year and so brought him to see it again.

Don't know why he kept sticking out his tongue when taking pics. 

I don't want to see your tongue boy!